I Pray You'll Like Mantis'...

These are all pictures I took at work (well, I volunteer here, but call it work). They're of one of the Desert Praying Mantis' (Sphodromantis spp) and I adore them. Don't worry, I don't try to cuddle them, but adore them with fascination. I frequently see people grimace when they see them and that's if they bother to look after spotting the enclosure label. It's saddening that so many people will overlook this species, but I hope you'll join the niche of people that love them. 

There are thousands of genera of mantis and they live in a range of environments world wide, from the tropical rainforest's to deserts. Mantid's are so-called from the position they hold their front legs in - much like a person praying. But these forelimbs are much more than the origin of a name, they're weaponry valuable for survival. When hunting, praying mantis' will stalk or ambush their prey until they're within striking range, then reach out and grasp their prey at around one twentieth of a second! Once the prey is caught, be it an insect, small bird or reptile, there is no chance of escape as the forelimbs are edged with spikes that hold the meal in place. The predator then consumes it's prey and cleans its spikes of residual meat with its mandibles. Mantis' are incredibly strong, able to ambush prey 3 times their size without a strain. Fascinating creatures and an experience to see. 

Here's a neat video I found of a Mantis ridding its owners of a pest, exhibiting its amazing speed and showing the grip they hold with their prey (link).

The Founders of Cryopreservation… Moths?

You won’t believe the amount of human inventions and ideas that have been inspired by the natural world, with the so-called inventers taking all the credit and failing to mention their critter counterparts. Some of these include Velcro, the Japanese bullet train and windshield wipers.
But one that may not come to mind is that of the amazing and advanced science of Cryogenics, from the creature Pyrrharctia Isabella, or, you might call it a Moth.

(Image source)

During the Isabella Tiger Moths initial life stage, it’s known as a Woolly Bear Caterpillar. Before caterpillars cocoon themselves to emerge as a moth or butterfly, they must first eat enough to sustain themselves through the transformation. The Woolly Bear Caterpillar lives in the Arctic and this is a barren and difficult enough environment to live in for even the best adapted species, so how does it consume enough to metamorphose before the freezing winter? Well, it doesn’t. But don’t fret about impending death, the wonders of evolution have figured out a way around it and this is where the cryogenics come in.

(Time lapse of Caterpillar freezing)

When the caterpillars can’t eat enough in one winter, they literally freeze themselves solid for the four winter months and keep themselves alive by producing a cryoprotectant, (a substance which protects living tissues from freezing damage by altering bodily cells) and then thaw and continue to eat at the start of spring. They’ll repeat this process year after year. But 14 years later in one special spring, the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, now ready for metamorphosis, will weave itself a silk cocoon and emerge from it as a beautifully yellow and black-spotted Moth. They then have only few days to find a mating partner before they die and the cycle starts again.

(Image source)

Other insects and amphibian species, such as Arctic frogs and salamanders, will use cryoprotectants for similar reasons and it’s perhaps these animals’ survival techniques which human cryogenics will be based on. It may be a scary thought that we are putting our lives and futures in the hands of these small and fairly unintelligent animals, but I for one trust evolution more than the mind of man.