June 16, 2016

Did you know that despite its size, the devil's flower mantis is actually a shy insect? The devil's flower mantis is one of the largest praying mantis species. It wards off predators but using a deimatic display in which it raises its body, points out its front legs, and shows off its colors. Because of its size and beautiful appearance, some people want to have it as a pet. If stressed (which happens easily to this little guy), the insect will panic, run within its enclosure, and bump into things. It will even show off its deimatic display. Such behavior isn't common for the devil's flower mantis. In nature it prefers to be still most of the time and generally waits for prey to come by.