I made a new friend in MANchester today. His name is MANny the MANchester MANtis...or at least that's what I think he said....
I was walking out of our hotel in downtown, going to the bus that would take us to the airport. You would think a bug 4 inches long would be a bit more obvious, but he was about 6 inches and 1/10 of a second from becoming a puddle of green goo. I'm pretty sure if it were a zebra, it would have taken me just as long to realize to adjust my step because it was completely unexpected and totally out of place!
Here are a few interesting facts about Praying Mantis's:
They are related to cockroaches and grasshoppers.
Some species can get up to 12 inches long.
They are the only insects that can turn their heads from side to side, and can go 180 degrees in either direction.
They get their name (Praying) from the benevolent way they hold their forearms together...that have spikes and barbs on them.
Mantids (that's plural for Mantisseses's) do not actively hunt, but wait for prey to come within striking distance.
Some cultures in Asia and Indo-China keep Mantids as pets for their children to keep them protected from poisonous spiders.
Large Mantids will eat frogs, snakes, small rodents, and small birds.
Their are no documented instances of a Praying Mantis attacking a human.
Female Mantids will sometimes eat her mate after, or sometimes during mating. This does not seem to deter males from reproduction.
Mantis comes from the Greek word for "prophet" or "soothsayer".
I've seen some oddball things that I didn't expect to see before, like Manny. I saw my first Coyote on a taxiway in Tallahassee Florida. I've seen a goldfish swimming happily in a lake. I once caught an 18.5 inch Rainbow Trout in a pond about the size of my house 1 mile from the closest road or habitation, surrounded by 10 yards of thistle (it was worth it!). I've seen Baptists at Keg parties, priests at strip bars, nuns in casino's, and I've seen Steve Day dance with a black woman.
When I was young and staying with my Grandmother Florence, and I was driving her nuts, as young boys tend to do, she would take me out " in search of adventure", and we always found it. I know that sounds innocuous enough, but as a boy, the opportunities were endless! Adventure was found in finding tadpolls, or trying to count the seeds in a cattail, or seeing how many trees we could identify, or finding a path that we immagined Indiands stalked. It was with her we saw a goldfish swimming in the lake.
She grew old and mean in her later years, but I will always thank and bless, and remember her for showing me that there are extraordinary things in the ordinary.
It's almost worth it to pay attention from time to time!
By the way MANny, stay away from the girls!
