#THE **WEIRD** MATING BEHAVIOUR OF PRAYING MANTISES

Praying mantises are a group of insects in the phylum arthropoda and class insecta. These insects are mostly known for their upright position assuming a praying or a boxer's pose.

The females are usually bigger than the males and like all other insects they possess a head, thorax and an abdomen. A feature that makes them unique from other insects is that they have the ability to turn their head 180°which gives them a wide range of view thereby helping them escape from their predators.

talking of features that make them unique, there is a behaviour of theirs that is so weird and unique- #sexual cannibalism. This is a mating behaviour where a partner, usually the female eats its counterpart during or after mating thereby terminating its life.

In praying mantises, when the female is ready to mate, it secretes a pheromone which attracts a male to her. Usually males are reluctant to go nearer when they smell the pheromone but then one finally goes nearer and mates with the female. Men will always be men lol...

Before the male can copulate, the female first engage him in a violent fight in which he is obviously being overpowered by her. The fight goes on for a while when the female starts devouring him and chops his head off. Ooouch! how painful it would be. I can still feel my head on my neck though... Hehehe

Amazingly, the headless body of the male gains some strength enough to overpower the female and copulate with her before finally dying. Is that some kind of super powers?, I don't know that yet

This weird mating behaviour has the importance of ensuring the survival of the species as many offsprings will be produced by the female from the sperms stored from that single ejaculation of the male. Nevertheless, it reduces the male population of the species.