Mantids, Armed and Dangerous/The Crafty Hunter

Mark W. Moffett

National Geographic Magazine

Summary, My goal was to take an everyday subject that most people think they know well, and show the unexpected. Preying mantids range around the world outside antartica, and they were photographed in several countries for this article. Among biologists they are most legendary for their crypsis -- the ability to blend with their environment. This became a focus of the images. While I show they are fierce, calculating predators capable of killing prey larger than themselves, the story that females eat males during copulation is largely a fiction (though captive females may do this when stressed). All images uncropped from transparency film. Caption, Like other praying mantids, this Cameroon species relies on stealth. With sharp vision, a mantid determines the size and distance to its prey before deciding whether the hunt is worthwhile.

Mark W. Moffett, "Mantids, Armed and Dangerous/The Crafty Hunter ," in POYi Archive, Item #35704, http://archive.poy.org/index.php/items/show/35704 (accessed June 3, 2025).