Praying Mantises Feed On Bird Brains

© A. Michael Uhlmann - amu communications photo

Praying Mantises or Gottesanebeterinnen in German (literally praying to God) always had this cool aura with their forelegs crossed as it looked as they would be praying. No wonder earlier civilizations looked upon them as having super-powers. In China, they are considered good luck and are shared as gifts.
Even though the larger female was often portraited as a "femme fatale" because they may devour its male counterpart during or after the mating part, they were looked upon as beneficial as they would eat other insects. But now a new study by the University of Basel suggests that the adored Mantis, who is even held as a pet, can be a blood-thirsty killer and can even kill and devour small birds.

Mantis eating a Hummingbird, Colorado, USA (Tom Vaughan via Uni Basel)

It was known that Mantises occasionally went after small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, salamanders or snakes.

The new study by lead zoologist Martin Nyffeler  from the University of Basel, as well as Mike Maxwell (National University, La Jolla, California) and James Van Remsen (Louisiana State University) now shows in their findings that praying mantises not just regionally, but all over the world kill and eat small birds and they were able to document this in 147 cases in 13 different countries on all continents but Antarctica.

 “The fact that eating of birds is so widespread in praying mantises, both taxonomically as well as geographically speaking, is a spectacular discovery," 

commented Martin Nyffeler from the University of Basel.

Mantises, instead of praying are preying in bird feeders and flowerbeds waiting for their victims, hummingbirds being a favorite, but other small birds being on the menu as well.

Due to the belief that mantises are mostly eating insects, several alien species of large mantises (e.g., Mantis religiosa and Tenodera sinensis) were released across North America as biological pest control agents. These imported species now constitute a new potential threat to hummingbirds and small passerine birds. But it's not just the released mantises that can be a threat, there are also large native mantises that can prey on birds.

“Our study shows the threat mantises pose to some bird populations. Thus, great caution is advised when releasing mantises for pest control”,

said Nyffeler.

And I guess you don't want your children to have Praying Mantises as pets anymore, as they can become preying killers.

Sources: Mantis Photo by amu communications photo, Uni Basel (text & photo),