Praying Mantis

     There are many interesting facts about praying mantises!  Mantises can be seen and enjoyed by anyone, because they live all over the world.  Their beautiful appearance is like no other.  Their unique way of hunting and defending is amazing.  They can eat almost anything smaller than themselves.  Because mantises can eat almost anything smaller than themselves, farmers like to have them on their farms to protect the crops from harmful insects and rodents.  Mantises are always hatching from their tiny eggs keeping their species from extinction.
     About 1800 species of mantises live all over the Earth.  Most of them live in Africa or Asia.  The United States has 20 native species like the Carolina Mantis, but the Chinese Mantis and European Mantis were introduced to the US for agricultural purposes.  Canada only has one native specie!

Malaysian Orchid Mantis

      Praying mantises are beautiful insects.  Their bent arms make them look like they are praying.  The word mantis also means prophet.  The praying mantises scientific name is mantis religiosa.  They can be many different colors including brown, green, pink, and white.  Although they can be all of those colors most are brown or green.  Their natural colors help them to blend in with their surroundings.  Some praying mantises look a lot like flowers.  Others appear to have leaves growing out of them and still other mantises can look like small sticks.  Most Mantises are at least 3 inches long.  The world's heaviest mantis is the Giant Asian Mantis weighing about 1/4 oz.  The mantises appearance helps them attract their prey.
     These carnivorous insects have a unique way of catching their prey.  Mantises arms were created so that they can grab their prey without it getting away.  Mantises arms also help them with climbing.  Another interesting thing about mantises is that they are the only insect that can turn their head 180 degrees!  Their ability to turn their head behind their shoulders makes it easier to see their prey walking toward them or to help them see a predator sneaking up behind them.  Some of their predators are bats, birds, frogs, spiders, and fish.  Praying mantises have compound eyes that help them to see in all directions.  Some people might be wondering what their prey is after reading this.
     Praying mantises eat all kinds of things.  Throughout a mantis' life it will slowly start to eat bigger and bigger insects.  Young mantises (nymphs) will eat small fruit flies or even it's brother or sister.  As it becomes an adult it will start to look for bigger meals that might include butterflies, crickets, frogs, scorpions, snakes or even birds!  Chinese Mantises were found to have fed on pollen when there was a shortage of prey.  Because of their big appetite farmers all across the world purchase and raise mantises, to help get rid of harmful bugs and rodents.

Mantis Eating a Cricket

     Mantises are great for agricultural purposes.  They will eat the insects, snakes, rodents or birds that are harming the crop or landscape.  Farmers buy them while they are young so that they will last longer.  Mantises live all over the world and in order for them to stay that way they have to reproduce.

Mantis Nymphs

     Young mantises, called nymphs, are created almost every second.  They come into this world in an egg and can have from 10 to 400 siblings.  A group of mantis eggs is called an oothecue.  A special liquid hardens the oothecue for Winter keeping them warm and safe for the nymphs.  Eggs will start to hatch in about 2 months.  Praying mantises can fly but a female cannot fly after giving birth.
     So many things are true about praying mantises.  What isn't to like about it?  Mantises live almost everywhere, allowing many people all over the planet to enjoy them.  These bugs are so beautiful that even their prey can't resist looking them.  Even their name suits the well.  A praying mantis has no problem hunting because it can eat almost anything.  Without this bug other insects and animals might be getting into peoples food.  Imagine finding a rat in your dinner! With 10-400 mantises hatching almost every second praying mantises don't have to worry about becoming extinct.  There isn't anything very bad about praying mantises.

Resources

www.wikipedia.org  (Mantis), Biggest Bugs by George Beccaloni and another Insect book

Justice

     Many people have a different definition of justice.  In some fictional books the characters will show justice to other characters. In the story of Ooka and the Honest Thief the thief is given what he deserves.  Another story where a character is just to another was the story of A Just Judge.  One man that was just to another person was Mohandas Gandhi.
     Ooka and the Honest Thief is a story about a man that lost his job and couldn't afford to buy food for his family.  Every night he went out to the store and stole a handful of rice to feed his hungry children.  The owner of the store went to the judge and asked him for help catching the thief.  Over night the judge stayed in the rice store waiting for the crook to walk in.  When the thief finally walked in,   The judge recognized him, the thief was a man named Gonta.  The judge asked him why he didn't steal a whole bag of rice instead of only a handful.  Gonta told the judge that he would only take the amount of rice that his family needed.  Gonta was later punished for his crimes but wasn't punished as much as he could have been if he wasn't honest.  The judge understood that Gonta needed a job, so he gave him a job, but made him pay back the rice that he stole from the store owner.  The judge's definition of justice may have been, that a man shall receive what he deserves a punishment or reward or sometimes both.  Something to learn from this story is that grace should be shown to those that can change from their mistakes.
     In the story of A Just Judge a king came to another town to see the wise judge there.  While riding through the town he came upon a beggar that asked for a ride on the king's horse. Being a kind man, the king invited him to ride on the back of the horse.  When the king got to the beggar's destination the beggar wouldn't get off the horse.  The king told the man to get off the horse but the man screamed "this is my horse!"  The two men were then taken to court.  The judge there had a whole lot of people to deal with.  When it got to the king and the beggar he took the horse and told them both to come back the next day.  The next day the artless beggar was taken out to the horse stable and was asked to point to which horse was his.  The beggar pointed to the correct one and so did the king.  The judge noticed that the horse reacted differently to it's owner than to the beggar.  A day later the beggar was punished, and the king was given his horse.  The judge's definition of justice may have been that the innocent shall be rewarded and the evil doer shall be punished for his crime.  A lesson that we can learn from this story is that we should look at all the little clues so that we can find out for sure who did the crime.
      Mohandas Gandhi was different than all these fictional stories.  His story really happened.  After Britain took India in 1858 British people ruled over Indians.  Many Indians became poor because of large taxes, and because Britain wouldn't let Indians trade goods with other countries.  Very few Indians were allowed to become part of the government.  The Indians tried to fight against the unjust British government.  They tried to use violence to win their independence back but hundreds of people where killed and thousands injured.  Mohandas Gandhi proposed a new technique called satyagraha.  He said that they should not obey the British and burn their British clothing.  He showed them how to spin cloth to make their own clothes.  He showed them how to be independent.  About 6 months after Indians were given back their independence Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated.  Gandhi said "My life is my message" he also said that "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  Mohandas Gandhi's definition of justice may have been that violence doesn't need to be used to carry out a punishment and that the innocent should not be punished.  One thing we can learn from this story is that if there is a path that doesn't involve violence take it!
   These stories are very helpful when trying to understand justice.  The best definition may have been the just judge's.  If someone did something wrong they shouldn't be treated like they are innocent they should be punished so that they can learn from their actions.  The innocent shouldn't be put in jail, they should be rewarded for their actions.  If the beggar had been given the horse and the king punished the results would have been very devastating.  When we are punished for doing something wrong we should think of it as a reward, because almost every punishment teaches us a very valuable lesson.