Over at Holy Souls Hermitage there is a great shot of Father playing with his pet Praying Mantis. (Actually, I think it just wandered by.)
I have sympathy for him since he lives on donations. I am grateful to him because he says Masses for and prays for priests.
I think this thing might even give Mulier Fortis‘s cats a go around. BTW… she is now keeping track of everything her little predators kill. Very cool.
Praying mantis, huh? Lex orandi, lex credendi. :-)
too ugly! ugh.
I’m not a huge praying mantis fan, since they eat my favorite bird, the hummingbird :) And assorted other bugs and animals; they will eat pretty much anything, but at least they pray beforehand!
I love these insects. They are so cool. However, as you know, the female kills the male after mating by cutting off his head.That is not always a truism, as research has shown,but common. I think the one in the photo is particularly handsome, as praying mantises go. And, the real name is praying, not preying…
Over at Holy Souls Hermitage…a praying mantis praying matins.
Bad joke, sorry, I couldn’t pass it up. ;o)
That’s a beautiful shot. For all things bright and beautiful, for creatures great and small, indeed.
A few weeks ago, a lovely dragonfly alighted on my hand, and stayed for about 10 seconds before fluttering away. The bronze and greens and blues of these creatures are just stunning! God’s nature cannot be duplicated!
Wow, that’s quite a critter!
Don’t like bugs very much, aside from ladybirds and butterflies.
How did it stay still for the photo?
Oh, yes, the ‘Mulier Fortis’ kitties, Miaowrini and Furretti….they’re quite the little prey hunters, that’s for sure!
I love praying mantises and I have always felt a strange sympathy for and with them. They seem so aware and self-aware, for not only a beast, but an insect. I always try to rescue them. Blessed be God in the beauty of his creation. Even the beasts don’t sin, as we do.
OK, I admit it, I do kind of like the mantis, but the makes me queasy; I don’t know what her mates would find so alluring about her lure!
“blackdevil angler fish” is the link, that is…
In the bug world, don’t mess with a praying mantis unless you are a wasp!
Years ago, while I was waiting on a bus, a yellow butterfly landed on my grocery sack. That left me with a good feeling I wish had stayed with me.
Hmmmmm… I think Monsignors Furretti and Miaowrini would have fun with a praying mantis – they dismembered the last stag beetle when it nipped Furretti once too often, and I suspect that the praying mantis would meet the same fate…
Thanks for the link, Fr. Z!