Mantis makes its move
While weeding the flower garden around noon today, I saw a Cabbage White nectaring on salvia flowers. Then, I noticed something jumping from a nearby plant to the salvia. It turned out to be a praying mantis. The Cabbage White left, but the mantis positioned itself on one of the stalks below the blooming flowers. It was a perfect spot to grab a butterfly that would land on the flowers above.
If this wasn't intelligent, preplanned action, what is? And insects aren't supposed to be able to think.
The mantis waited. I waited. About 10 minutes later, the butterfly returned and landed on the flower stalk next to the mantis's. And the mantis struck.
A shutter speed of 1/400 s wasn't fast enough to freeze the action. The butterfly struggled briefly.
But it was too late. A few minutes later, a couple of white wings fell to ground below.
2 comments:
Fantastic sequence! It is amazing that the tiny predators process so much information and form complex responses in those little bodies. If that's not thinking...
Incredible. I admire you patience - and definitely worth the wait. I've never seen a picture of a praying mantis before. So thank you - I've learnt something tonight.
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