VICKIE'S WORLD

When asked to give a list of creatures on this planet that display an amazing capacity for intelligence, many people might readily mention dolphins, elephants, chimps and apes, and maybe even cats and dogs. All of this is may certainly be true, but there is one very small creature whose amazing characteristics have not only been overlooked, but wrongly categorized by most of the scientific world. When thinking of animals that exhibit any level of intelligence, almost nobody would suggest an insect. Yet the subject of this essay, though thought by many to be an insect, doesn’t exactly fit so neatly into that mold.

From the time I was a small child, I have become familiar with the unusual properties and behaviors of the preying mantis. Wed catch them as children and keep them in cages for days. To keep them alive for this time, my brother and I both learned that most of them would readily drink water from an eye dropper, and would take food that was handed to them. For instance, a grass hopper gripped by the extended back legs and held in front of the mantis would be taken and eaten with good grace. Some time later, I learned that letting one sit on my hand was a much more pleasant experience for both myself and the mantis than gripping it by the thorax. Like most creatures, being gripped is cause for severe alarm, and a mantis will, quite understandably, react defensively with claws and mandibles that can easily draw blood. However, if you let one simply sit on your hand, most of the time, he or she will be happy to do so.

As I grew older and learned more about the behaviors and physical characteristics of most animals in general, I came to realize just how remarkable preying mantises are. For instance, one of the most well known characteristics of insects is that they have six legs. And though the mantis does have six appendages, because the front pair are never weight bearing, it would be unsound to call them legs. A mantis uses these two appendages almost exclusively as arms, applying them to the function of walking only for balance, or to pull themselves along when climbing. Most often, mantises are at rest on only the rear four appendages.

Another signature characteristic of insects is the compound eye. But there are two features on a preying mantis that dispel the continuing claims that they have compound vision, just like the rest of the insect world. The first is that the preying mantis has a neck. A soft and flexible neck on which the mantis can turn its head in almost any direction. With every specimen I have observed and spent time with, I have noticed that the mantis turns its head to look around.

So, if the mantis does indeed have compound vision…why need a neck? Why would they need to turn their heads at all? You may say that the neck could be necessary for flexibility in grooming and eating. That an insect may need to turn its head at different angles when moving along and foraging. But I have consistently noted that, when holding a mantis and moving an object around it, it will turn its head to keep the object in view.

The second feature is the presence of pupils in each eye. In gathering some photos from the web, I read one photographers comment that actually mentioned the pupils. The writer said “One cool thing about this insect is how her eyes always seem to be looking at you. You can see how it seems to have dark pupils that follow you around. Of course it doesn't really. It just has typical compound eyes comprising hundreds of tiny hexagonal cylinders.” This writer then goes on to explain, “The cylinders are long and radiate out somewhat spherically, so only the ones pointing toward you appear dark (the color at the other end of the tube). The ones pointing off-axis are tan, colored like the sides of the cylinder.”

I would have to agree with the writers physics, but I have to disagree with his applying it to preying mantis eyes. In mammals, the purpose of the pupil is to expand in darkness to allow more light to enter, and retract in brighter settings to reduce the amount of light entering. I have observed many times that a mantis with green or brown eyes, when kept in the dark for awhile, can be observed to have solid black eyes. This is because the pupils in the mantis eye do expand, which this writer’s explanation cannot account for. In light or dark, only one cylinder cluster can face directly forward, and so only that cluster would show as a dark spot. The shape of the eye and the direction of the cylinders do not change simply because of different light levels.

But light sensitive pupils do. And the fact that the mantis pupils appear small in sunlight, then expand to fill the entire eye when its dark strongly suggests that their pupils do serve the exact same purpose as ours. And though this phenomenon can be seen in the compound eyes of other insects, such as grasshoppers and katydids, it must also be noted that these insects do not have flexible necks, and cannot move their heads to look around, as the mantis does.

Physiology and anatomy aside, the mantis doesn’t become really interesting until you start examining its behavior. On a purely instinctual level, a mantis already contradicts the behaviors of all other insects, and very often, most animals in general. For instance, when approached by a human being, most insects will either flee, fight or remain still, relying on natural camouflage. To an insect, a human body is either cause for alarm, something to eat, or just simply part of the landscape. A mantis, however, when approached by a human being, will watch with curiosity. If the human being tries to pick the mantis up, there will be a moment or two of alarm and attempted evasive maneuvers, but if the human knows the knack of quieting the alarm, most mantises will calm down and resign themselves to a hand held visit. Many even seem to enjoy it.

To the point, a preying mantis recognizes other creatures as entities and individuals. Human beings included. Many enthusiasts have observed while holding a mantis that the mantis will look intently into their faces. Many have also observed that the mantis will sway back and forth while doing so almost as if enjoying watching its own reflection in your eyes, or perhaps trying to look into your eyes, but because of scale, cant look into both at the same time. Resulting in a behavior that is very much like the human behavior of the eyes twitching back and forth when faces are too close to allow binocular eye contact. Many mantises will follow this behavior with a short jump onto your face, but this is not occasion for alarm. This jump is not an attack, and the mantis will not harm you in this behavior.

Another interesting behavior on the instinctual level is the mantis very thorough grooming routine. Most other insects groom as well. Cockroaches, for example, have been observed to groom after being held by human hands, which seems insulting at first, but its more likely that the cockroach is cleaning the oils that rubbed off on them. Also, most insects, and most other animals for that matter, will only groom when they feel safe and relaxed enough to do so.
A mantis, however, will often groom itself while being held by human hands which suggests that a mantis can come to feel comfortable and relaxed while being held, which is a huge consideration when compared to the instinctual fear of humans that almost every other creature on the planet naturally has.
Very catlike, a mantis will clean its feet and legs, its face and its antennae. Its cleaning routine seems even more animated and mammalian because of its flexible neck. With an arm, it will hook a hind leg and bring it up to its face, then place the foot between its mandibles and clean away. It will also maneuver its face up and down the length of the legs, licking and cleaning as it goes. It will then lick its forearms and rub them over its face, very much like many mammals. And finally, with a forearm, a mantis will reach up, hook an antenna, then bring it down and string it between the mandibles. Then, like a piece of cloth going through a sewing machine, the antennas length will be thoroughly cleaned until the end is reached and it pops back up into place.
Grooming oneself is certainly a universal behavior among most creatures on the planet. Grooming anyone but yourself, however, is usually attributed to the more social animals. Grooming a creature outside your own species is even more rare, and occurs mostly in domesticated animals that are acclimated to living in close and peaceful quarters with animals of different species, though it has been observed to happen in the wild among individuals in very unique circumstances.

A preying mantis is not a social creature among its own kind. In fact, many mantises die at the hands of other mantises. A mantis isn’t even present to groom her own offspring. However, I have consistently observed in many specimens I have spent time with, that they will often groom a human being. While sitting relaxed on my shoulder, many mantises have chosen to grab one of my hairs and groom it thoroughly. There is absolutely no precedent in a mantis natural behavior that would explain this. A mantis doesn’t habitually grab other kinds of filaments that exist in nature for the purpose of licking them. There is also nothing on a human hair that a mantis would find appetizing, and so this behavior cannot be attributed to a mantis finding hair tasty. And because my hair was dry each time this happened, it was also not an act of drinking water.

The only possible explanation would be that a mantis not only feels relaxed enough while visiting with the right human being to groom himself, but he also feels enough of a friendly connection with that human being to share his grooming routine. And to suggest that a preying mantis is capable of making that decision and feeling that amity would also suggest that a mantis has a capacity for thought and emotion that far surpasses the mental capabilities normally attributed to insects or a great many other animals for that matter.
Yet another behavior that seems to contradict the standard is the fact that a mantis will accept both food and drink from human hands. The mantis is a predator, and in the animal kingdom, most predators will eat only what they kill or find lying around dead. If they do not obtain it themselves, its not considered food. Only those predators acclimated to being fed by humans will accept food in this manner. Yet, a preying mantis, straight from the wild, and who has never before obtained food in this manner, will accept food offered to it. What’s more, a mantis will take this food directly from a human hand, with no fear of the presence of the hand, and with no confusion about where the food ends and the hand begins.

If I have kept a mantis in captivity for more than a day, I will endeavor to offer it food. I do this most often by capturing a grasshopper. When a grasshopper is gripped by its back legs, it will extend them. In this manner, I hold the grasshopper in front of the mantis face. Without fail, and with every attempt throughout the years with different individuals, the mantis has reached out with its arms and taken the grasshopper. What’s more, this grab is performed with a curious lack of natural action. In the wild, the mantis would strike with quick motion, grabbing the grasshopper quickly. When being offered the grasshopper by a human hand, however, the mantis will reach and take it with a much slower motion as if it understands that no hurry is needed the grasshopper isn’t getting away because this human is holding it.

Even more amazing than accepting food is the way in which a mantis will accept water. As stated at the beginning, I learned at a very young age that a mantis will accept water from an eye dropper. It was only when I found myself without an eye dropper that I discovered something even more remarkable. Letting a drop of water cling to my fingertip, I placed my fingertip right at the tip of the mantis face, bumping it gently to get it to pay attention. My skin was a fraction of a millimeter from those crushing mandibles, yet the mantis didn’t bite. Instead, he raised his head, then raised his arms. Like a baby holding a bottle, the mantis hooked his arms around my finger, applying almost no pressure at all seemingly mindful of the damage those spiked claws could do. He then began eagerly taking the water in with swishing motions of the mandibles. When the water droplet was almost gone, I began to feel some concern. Yet, I was still in no danger. The mantis spent some time actually licking the surface of my skin to get the last of the moisture but didn’t bite me. Most of us know what it feels like to be licked by a cat or dog but its an entirely new experience to be licked by an insect. And I’m not saying that every mantis would be so courteous. They do have individual personalities and temperaments. I have heard of one mantis that bit a friend while she was offering water in this manner, but none have ever bitten me, and no others have ever bitten her.

This taking of water is a behavior that, in itself, suggests many amazing things. That a mantis defies instinctual behavior by 1) having a lack of fear for the proximity of human hands, especially when the hand is right in the mantis face, and 2) by accepting sustenance from a third party. The positioning of the arms gripping my finger is also curious. In the wild, a mantis does not wrap its arms around anything else it might drink from. This would suggest that the mantis knows that its you offering the water, and not just some weird, fleshy kind of plant stem its suddenly found right before its eyes. The wrapping of the arms around my finger seems like a communicative gesture of not wanting the finger to be taken away. Also, the fact that the mantis applies only gentle pressure suggests the same care and courtesy as does not biting the finger while drinking from it. There are many dogs and cats that cant even manage not to bite a finger after licking something tasty from it.

Though a mantis capacity for defying the standards of instinct seems amazing, its the facilities for intelligent thought, individual personality, emotion and communication that are really astounding.

The first indicator that mantises have individual personalities is that individuals will behave differently in similar situations. For instance, for the most part, mantises will have no problem visiting with people who know how to handle them. Still there are some individuals who just don’t have the nerve, and will never calm down enough to be held. Still others, though fewer in number, will object violently to this kind of contact. Personally, I have encountered only one mantis that has behaved in this manner, and this mantis had a very bad, but healed injury. Half his face had been mangled, and an eye was missing. Its interesting to note, then, that this particular mantis is the only violent mantis I have ever met. It would be perfectly understandable that an individual who had suffered greatly as the result of a contact with some aggressor would then react violently during encounters with anything else. To conclude that, however, one would have to invest the mantis with a psyche.
But on the whole, I have learned that most mantises are curious, congenial creatures who can sometimes clearly understand English and who are excellent judges of character. They display such emotions as irritation, desire and fondness. And in two very amazing examples, they can initiate comprehensive and successful communication.

The first example is from about fifteen years ago. I was in Goodview, Virginia, visiting with the Fitzsimmons family. I had found a mantis on their property, and sat on their porch, including her in the general visit. Now, mantises do have wings and they can fly. Since I wasn’t gripping her, and she was in no other way caged or restrained, she could have left any time she wanted to. But she never did choose to leave the visit. It was only after I had placed her on a bush that she went on her way. But while I was holding her, she displayed many amazing things. She did groom herself, and she did continuously look around at everyone else. We had been talking mostly about the man who was currently involved with the Fitzsimmons daughter, and none of us thought very highly of him. In fact, wed all said some pretty harsh and incriminating things.

At one point, however, this man arrived to retrieve his girlfriend. As he passed us on the porch, this mantis snapped a very hateful look in his direction, which is a pretty impressive feat to manage with an exo-skeletal face. But she turned her head in his direction and lowered it as far as her neck would allow for all the world like the comedic, hateful glance from an angry African-American woman. She also adopted an aggressive posture. If it was his sudden presence and quick motions that had bothered her, you’d think shed have chosen that moment to fly away. But she didn’t. Once he was out of site, she returned to idly looking around at everyone else as they talked.

But then came the time, as it does for us all, that she had to relieve herself. She started moving around quite a bit on my hand, and I thought she might finally be getting tired and was ready to make her exit. It was, however, a brief survey. She had stepped around my hand, looking over the sides in all directions. She then positioned herself to where her abdomen was off the edge, and dropped her feces from the one place where it wouldn’t have landed on my folded legs, beneath. This was a completely overwhelming display of both intelligent thought and courtesy.

On another occasion, I have found a preying mantis while at work. About 17 years ago, while working at Dominoes Pizza in Roanoke. Like the one from the Fitzsimmons visit, this mantis could have flown any time he wanted to which would suggest that he just didn’t want to. The visit lasted about thirty minutes but then again, I had work to do. Still, I was holding him when one deliver driver returned from a run and stopped to enjoy the mantis with me. A few minutes later, another driver returned. She was terrified of the mantis. From about eight feet away, this young woman cringed in fright. Both the other driver and myself coaxed her and encouraged her until she had managed to take a few steps closer. The mantis was patient through all of this. Finally, the young woman said Ugh! Its so ugly!!!
Upon the split second of those words being uttered, the mantis launched himself from my hand and flew straight at her face. It was as if he not only understood her words, but took offense at them, as well! Or perhaps he wanted to go over and make friends by proving he wasn’t anything to be afraid of. In either case, the resulting reaction was quite amusing, and I intercepted the mantis before she could harm him with her flailing.

Am I giving this mantis too much credit for comprehension, emotion and communication? When it came time to end this visit, I placed the mantis high on the brick wall outside the building. The other delivery driver was there as a witness. Once the mantis had stepped off my hand, he turned his body back toward me, and in a downward direction. Like I’ve mentioned before mantises can fly. They also have legs capable of not only walking, but jumping. He could have gone anywhere he wanted to. But this mantis stretched his legs as far as they could extend his body from the wall. He then stretched his forearms as far as he could reach in my direction exactly like a child reaching his arms out in a plea to be picked up. I raised my hand to the mantis, and he stepped back on board. The fact that he wanted to continue visiting with me shows emotional capacities for both desire and fondness. The fact that he orchestrated this elaborate gesture, instead of just jumping on me, shows a courtesy in asking permission first. And asking permission is a clear form of communication, initiated by the mantis. Clearly and successfully interpreted.

During another notable visit, about eleven years ago, I learned that, when faced with alarming conditions, a mantis can separate the aggressor from the non-aggressor, and behave accordingly. I had been talking about mantises to the child of a co-worker. Wed found one, and he wanted to keep it. I showed him how to hold her, but he’d eventually shoved her into a fast food paper soda cup and put the lid on. She had managed to shove her head, forearms and thorax through the straw slits, but had no more leverage with which to force her abdomen through. The boy had come running to me, holding this cup with half a frantic preying mantis sticking out the top.

I knew there’d never be a way to make her understand that shed need to back up. In the cup was not a place shed voluntarily go. So, with no further thought to the unbroken nature of my skin, I placed my hand within reach of her forearms. Frantic and fighting for her freedom, this mantis gripped the edge of my hand and pulled herself through the hole. She did not choose to aggressively pinch me, and she did not fly away once she was free. Almost no other animal on the planet has this capacity. Many humans don’t either. When threatened, most creatures will adopt a defensive mode and attack anything and everything that comes near. They will also exit the situation as quickly as possible. The fact that this mantis recognized me as a non-aggressor is amazing in itself. With my skin at the mercy of her claws, she didn’t hurt me. And because I extended this trust, she in turn trusted me and stayed on my hand rather than feeling the scene of her ordeal.

And as a final example, this one from about five years ago, I encountered a mantis that convinced me more than Id already been convince that these creatures are special members of a select group of higher thinking creatures that inhabit this planet. Id been holding a young male for some time. He’d groomed himself and behaved like all the others. But, on a whim, I decided to hold up two fingers in the shape of a V and touch each fingertip to his antennae. Anyone who has played with bugs will tell you that, when the antennae are touched, one of two things will happen. Either the bug will snap the antennae away, laying them flat against the body or the bug will make an immediate exit.
But this little fellow this mantis Once touched, he eagerly started exploring my fingertips with his antennae. I felt gentle pressure as he wrapped and curled them over my skin. I remember being impressed with how much strength he had in these hair-width filaments, and how much control he had over their movement from base to tip. But he didn’t retreat. He didn’t advance or attack, either. He just kept exploring, touching, feeling and wrapping with his antennae. With no knowledge of what kind of perception is garnered by these sensory organs, I’m at a complete loss to comprehend what he learned about me. But I do know he reacted with curiosity, and not with fear or aggression. I also know that no other mantis had even done this to me before. It was only when I decided to initiate this contact that the mantis responded in kind. It was the oddest, most alien and thrilling conversation Id ever had.

Its been observed that, though mother cats and their kittens meow at one another, and that mating and fighting cats will vocalize…cats do not meow conversationally with one another. Only with human beings. Most cat owners know this to be true, and I know my cat meows conversationally with me almost constantly. And it seems to be the same with preying mantises. They don’t have any goodwill toward one another, and they don’t randomly jump onto other animals to clean their hairs or look them in the eye. This special relationship seems to be exclusive between humans and preying mantises. Its a relationship I intend never to betray, and that I hope more people will experience.

That was an awesome read. I always knew they were somehow special, but now I can't wait till I encounter another praying mantis.