A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger

Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident 

This is a male praying mantis. I saw him fly, which only males do. The egg sack of the female makes her much larger than the male, and unable to fly.  He is a Chinese mantis, with characteristic facial stripes and colored both green and brown. This species, one of only sixteen found in North America, was discovered at a plant nursery outside Philadelphia in 1896. 

Mantises look like grasshoppers on steroids, but are more closely related to termites and cockroaches. They are considered a neutral presence in a garden because they will eat anything they can catch, insects both destructive and benevolent. 

They are “sit-and-wait” predators. They may be brown or green or both, as camouflage. They can rotate their heads almost one hundred and eighty degrees. Their attack form is so efficient it has inspired two schools of Chinese martial arts. 

Praying mantises have unusual and interesting movements, which is why they are among the few insects kept as pets. A closer look reveals that, on their own terms, they are relatively terrifying. If they were ten feet long they would be much scarier than alligators.  The 1967 film “Son of Godzilla” agrees, as the mutated dinosaur protects his son from giant flying mantises. 

The female kills and eats the male after about twenty-five percent of mantis couplings, further contributing to their terrifying reputation. The female prefers smaller males as they are easier to subdue. The male in this photo, still alive in the late fall, near the end of the mantis life cycle, is big for his gender and has thus far beaten the odds. I’m sure I saw him at least twice after this photo. 

It is unsettling to begin to recognize an individual insect. Equally unsettling is to consider that he might also be recognizing me. “Geez, that’s the third time that guy with the crazy dogs has peered down on me. I thought you got a photo the first time,” the mantis said to himself, or so I imagine. “Leave me alone. I’m workin’ here.”