Praying Mantis eats Hummingbird <Warning Graphic>

Shockie · 9/14/10

You learn something new everyday. Our friends had noticed a praying mantis hanging out on their hummingbird feeder for a couple of days (this happened a few years ago). A few days later... they found that this praying mantis had caught a hummingbird and was eating it! These pictures are not mine, but I wanted to share anyway! Completely fascinating and disgusting! Needless to say... relocate all praying mantis away from your birdie hang outs! How this little guy was even strong enough to kill a bird, I'll never know. :omg:

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Nikki · 9/14/10

Re: Praying Mantis eats Hummingbird

I should not have clicked I should not have clicked. Poor little Hummer.

I'm going to put a warning in the title.

expressmailtome · 9/14/10

That is amazing but very sad.

Matt

Birdasaurus · 9/14/10

Those things are vicious! We had one in our house years ago, and when my dad went to relocate it, it attacked him without hesitation.

Barbi · 9/14/10

So sad

Poor little hummingbird. I'm scared of most bugs and Jeff was going to show me one day that these were "harmless" and it bit him on the soft tissue right inside his wrist. Nearly needed to dismember him to get him to let go. I love that they like to hang out on the plants on my porch and keep them free of aphids and other pests, but other than that we're not on a first name basis.

Anne & Gang · 9/14/10

why did I click why did I click..

Shockie · 9/14/10

Barbi said:
So sad Poor little hummingbird. I'm scared of most bugs and Jeff was going to show me one day that these were "harmless" and it bit him on the soft tissue right inside his wrist. Nearly needed to dismember him to get him to let go. I love that they like to hang out on the plants on my porch and keep them free of aphids and other pests, but other than that we're not on a first name basis.

LOL @ "Not on a first name basis" :lol:

As a kid, I loved to catch these things and then catch a grasshopper and watch the praying mantis reach out and snatch the grasshopper. It's so fast. It still simply boggles my mind that the bird was unable to escape. Ca-razy.

myakando · 9/14/10

Thank was awful! Poor little hummingbird

Thugluvgrl187 · 9/14/10

this is sad

ronsig · 9/14/10

I know better than to click on that.
I appreciate the warning and I just avoid these things.
Nature can be cruel.

Sigrid

CrashSmAshley · 9/14/10

I didn't realize mantises could get big enough to eat a humming bird

sad, but really fascinating

Jeddy · 9/14/10

Nature can be beautiful and also brutal.

Quiverful · 9/15/10

My parents had the exact same thing happen. They have a hummer feeder on their deck and get tons of them. They had a huge mantis hanging out. My mom kept going out and flicking it away but it kept coming back. Eventually, she saw that it had caught, killed and was eating a hummingbird! My mom, being my mom, ran outside, yanked the bird away from the mantis and the mantis flew off.

Mantids are really amazing and fascinating creatures.

Archiesmom · 9/15/10

Oh, so sad

falsk · 9/15/10

Yeah, it's sad... but it's also sort of awesome. Mantids are pretty cool. It's just unfortunate for the hummingbird...

Shockie · 9/15/10

Quiverful said:
My parents had the exact same thing happen. They have a hummer feeder on their deck and get tons of them. They had a huge mantis hanging out. My mom kept going out and flicking it away but it kept coming back. Eventually, she saw that it had caught, killed and was eating a hummingbird! My mom, being my mom, ran outside, yanked the bird away from the mantis and the mantis flew off.

Mantids are really amazing and fascinating creatures.

Wow! I guess it happens more often than not! So weird.

Sorry for the upset, I didn't think it would upset everyone so easily. Live and learn.

Bokkapooh · 9/15/10

Poor hummingbird

I never knew mantises could do this! Howdoes it hold it? How does it kill it? Its bite cant be that strong, and I didnt know its arms were that lethal.

Quiverful · 9/15/10

Mercedez said:

Poor hummingbird

I never knew mantises could do this! Howdoes it hold it? How does it kill it? Its bite cant be that strong, and I didnt know its arms were that lethal.

Click to expand...

The "praying" arms have spikes on them. When a Mantis grabs something, it is so incredibly fast! I read one site that stated it was the fastest movement known. Don't know if that's absolute truth or not, but I have seen them in action and if you blink, you totally miss it.

Anyway, the spikes stab into its prey. Many times, that alone kills smaller prey. The arms are very strong. Then, the mouth opens and the mouth parts come out...it actually looks like something from a scary alien movie. The mantis starts to feed. whether or not the prey is alive or dead.

A few years ago, we brought one in from outside and kept it in a plastic critter container. We put branches and dirt in there and went to the pet store every few days to buy crickets for her to eat. She layed two egg sacs and then died..which is what they do. We did a lot of research about Preying Mantids. It was a homeschool project

Birdbabe · 9/15/10

Wow, that was sad and interesting at the same time...I asumed the hummer was ill or something for the mantis to catch it like that.

Quiverful · 9/15/10

Birdbabe said:

...I asumed the hummer was ill or something for the mantis to catch it like that.

Click to expand...

No, they are capable of catching and eating a perfectly healthy bird.

Praying Mantis eats Hummingbird <Warning Graphic>

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