• Haggunenons@lemmy.worldOP
    2·
    10 months ago

    Fascinating, thanks so much for sharing. It is remarkable how much they seemed like they were watching me. I took a video of it the other when it was around. I guess it could just be that I’m darker than the background and so it wants to follow that darkness movement.

    • mostlypixels@programming.dev
      2·
      10 months ago

      Oh my god, thank you for that video, it’s fantastic. She’s so cute! I never saw a real mantis and this is fascinating.

      … According to observations.be, they are present (albeit very rare) in Belgium, so I guess you’ve started me on a new life quest. 📸

      • Haggunenons@lemmy.worldOP
        1·
        10 months ago

        You’re very welcome! That observations website is fantastic, I’ve got a little bioacoustics community and I’m going to add it to the list of resources there, thanks for sharing it!

        I don’t think I’ve ever seen a praying mantis in real life until now. This is in Okinawa, Japan. Most of the time, she was rocking back like this, and whenever I would get close she would stretch out to climb on me. She would sort of fly a little bit sometimes, and when I found her, she was on my balcony, but she hasn’t been back around since the day I saw her. I read that they are the only insect that can turn their heads independent of their bodies. Also, there is a Spiny Flower Mantis that is definetly worth checking out!

        Edit: fixed a link.