There is a popular saying on the Internet: the highest-end hunters always appear as victims.
This is true in the crowd, and it is also true in nature. Many animals eventually "counterkill" their natural predators, and the praying mantis is one of them.
In general, the end of the life of a praying mantis, most of them is like this:
But in North America, the praying mantis is like this:
In the picture, a large praying mantis successfully preys on a hummingbird.
The whole process of the praying mantis catching the hummingbird has been recorded on video and has caused a sensation on the Internet.
The praying mantis is a master of ambushes, and when a hummingbird comes up from the bottom up, the praying mantis firmly clamps the hummingbird with a pair of thorny forefeet, making it impossible to escape.
Once caught, it is difficult for hummingbirds to escape, even if they pounce vigorously. And then the killing began.
The praying mantis itself is not poisonous, so it mainly kills its prey by its forefoot spines and mouthparts.
Sometimes it bites the bird's head, neck or throat and shocks it. Then bite a hole out of the bird's eye or the top of its head, "burrow" into it and eat the bird's brain.
After a great meal, the death of the birds was very horrific, some of them had different heads, some were plucked, and some of their skulls had no scalp. If it is too hungry, the praying mantis will also eat the whole bird.
The alien Chinese praying mantis is the culprit?
In general, praying mantis usually eats insects such as butterflies, bees, flies, and spiders. For praying mantises, catching prey of this size seems to be the most reasonable option.
So, is the bird-eating mantis that appears on the Internet a rare and small probability event, or is it a very common phenomenon?
To answer this question, the team of zoologist Martin Nyffeler at the University of Basel in Switzerland conducted a very detailed study.
The researchers analyzed the literature as well as real cases in the media and found that the phenomenon of praying mantis eating birds is more common than we thought, and a total of 147 real cases have been found.
In addition to Antarctica, the cases have been covered all over the world, involving a total of 13 countries.
Among them, the Chinese praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) from China has the highest crime rate, and it is a larger female praying mantis.
Indeed, if you want to hunt birds, the size of the praying mantis is certainly not small, and the Chinese praying mantis is the largest praying mantis in North America.
Generally, the body length is more than 6cm, the maximum can reach 9cm, and the weight is also 7g, in comparison, although the hummingbird is longer, its weight is generally only 2.5-6.5g. Obviously, in terms of size, the Chinese mantis has an advantage.
Incidents of Chinese praying mantis eating birds (mainly hummingbirds, but also other large birds) have been reported to occur in the United States.
In addition to birds, it has also been found that the Chinese praying mantis preys on food much larger than itself, such as snakes, shrews, and baby turtles.
It can be said that the Chinese praying mantis, as an alien species, seems to live very well here.
In 1896, the Chinese praying mantis was accidentally introduced to Pennsylvania with the nursery, and it has a history of 127 years. Thanks to its strong vitality, the Chinese praying mantis has become one of the most common praying mantis in the region.
Why does the Chinese praying mantis prey on birds?
The Chinese praying mantis preys on prey that is much larger than its own size, and has three main advantages.
The first is that it is large, so it has the basis for preying on big prey.
Secondly, it is good at ambushes.
There are several colors of the Chinese praying mantis, some brown and some green, no matter which color, in nature, is the best protective color, it will stay in one place motionless, waiting for the prey to approach.
When the timing is right, the Chinese praying mantis will hit the target with its forelimbs quickly and accurately, and eat it with its hard mouthparts.
Forelimbs and chewing mouthparts, which are the weapons of the praying mantis.
Many people believe that the most powerful thing about the praying mantis is its mouthparts, which can bite through the skull of birds.
But in fact, the praying mantis's mouthparts are relatively inefficient, and its real power is its forelimbs. According to research, it has a strength of up to 700N in its forelimbs and sharp barbs on its legs, making it difficult to escape once it grips an object.
It subdues large prey like birds, relying on constant control and attack (gnawing slowly).
The Chinese praying mantis is greedy, eating a lot at one time, and after eating, it can go without food for up to a week or two.
Based on these, after entering the United States, the Chinese praying mantis quickly took root here and affected the local ecology.
Rewriting the food chain to become an invasive species in North America?
In the United States, the Chinese praying mantis is almost 50% larger than the native Carolina mantis, is greedy, and has the ability to hunt large prey, so many people classify this creature as an "invasive species".
They are worried that the native praying mantis will not be able to compete with the Chinese mantis and will eventually become extinct, because there is a precedent for this.
New Zealand's native New Zealand straight-leaved mantis, because of the invasion of the foreign South African mantis, is now basically invisible in the wild.
Because the native male mantis of New Zealand thinks that the female of the alien mantis is more attractive, so he chooses to use it as a mate, but after mating, the native species of New Zealand rarely have sexual cannibalism (Sexual cannibalism), and the exotic mantis almost always eats the male mantis, and over time, the native praying mantis disappears.
However, at present, the United States does not define this alien creature as a harmful invasive species, but rather as a naturalized species.
In other words, the Chinese praying mantis has not only not seriously harmed the ecology of the United States, but has been integrated into the local ecosystem.
Locally, the Chinese praying mantis is an excellent "beneficial insect" and pet.
Many people buy Chinese praying mantis and release them in their fields and gardens to control pest populations. There are also many people who keep Chinese praying mantis as pets because of their appearance.
After all, in this place, the number of bird-eating praying mantises is not as large as the praying mantis birds, and there are at least 34 species of birds in North America that regularly hunt praying mantises.
In comparison, the benefits of the Chinese praying mantis to the local ecology are far greater than the bad effects of eating a few birds and lizards.
At last
Overall, as an alien species, the Chinese praying mantis in the United States has been very successful.
This kind of praying mantis, I often saw and played with it when I was a child, and it still hurts to be hit by its forelimbs, but now, it is rare to see this insect.
It is a predatory creature, its kind does not let go, eats hummingbirds, and its ability allows, and it certainly does not exclude.
In fact, according to research, the Xi of frequent bird eating of praying mantis is solidified by humans.
Because humans place bird feeders in their gardens and release praying mantis here to control pests, they inadvertently bring these two creatures together, causing more conflicts between them.