“Dad… Come here and look at this cricket! It’s cool.”
Anthony calls me over to look at a cricket on the post, while I’m sitting relaxing under the patio.
As I start to get up to go see, I said “Anthony, I have seen MILLIONS of crickets in my life. What’s one more cricket? It can’t be that cool… it’s just a cricket.”
I walked up and there’s a bright green bug on the post, and I said “Ohh… that’s not a cricket… It’s a Praying Mantis.”
I lifted each of the kids up for a close look at the Praying Mantis. It was pretty cool… I told them to look his head was tilted toward them.
Here are a couple of cool facts… There are about 2000 Species’ of Mantis in the world, most of them in Asia, and about 20 different species in the U.S. I’ve read that the female kills the male after mating since the protein helps in egg development. Also, this insect is more closely related to the cockroach than a grasshopper. (source: theprayingmantis.org).
So… keep your eyes open for the Praying Mantis. It most certainly isn’t a cricket… I think they’re pretty cool looking creatures.
Digg!
