This praying mantis was crawling around on our recycle bin. When I moved the camera around to snap pictures, its head swiveled to follow the action. Click on the picture for a bigger version.
wow: its head is crazy looking. i never looked closely into the "face" of a mantis before. From wikipedia regarding mantids' senses (a mantis has an ultrasonic ear in its abdomen!):
Praying mantises, with their huge compound eyes, can see extremely well and from distances up to 60 feet (The Big Zoo). Sight is the only sense that they use in hunting prey and for general navigation. Since praying mantises do not have typical ears on the side of the head like many insects, they do not hear standard sounds. However, their single ear in their abdomen has the ability to hear ultrasonic sounds (Yager and May). This ultrasonic hearing is used as a defense mechanism from predators.
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wow: its head is crazy looking. i never looked closely into the "face" of a mantis before. From wikipedia regarding mantids' senses (a mantis has an ultrasonic ear in its abdomen!):
Praying mantises, with their huge compound eyes, can see extremely well and from distances up to 60 feet (The Big Zoo). Sight is the only sense that they use in hunting prey and for general navigation.
Since praying mantises do not have typical ears on the side of the head like many insects, they do not hear standard sounds. However, their single ear in their abdomen has the ability to hear ultrasonic sounds (Yager and May). This ultrasonic hearing is used as a defense mechanism from predators.
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