Take a ton each of patience, speed, and raw courage. Inject them into a skeletal body weighing a few grams. Add six limbs. And a shade of green. Give it life. What you have is an insect with attitude - the Mantis.
The average mantis is barely 10 cm long, although larger and smaller species have been found. The mantis is a predatory insect with two spiked forelegs at the top of its body that hold the prey. Four other lower limbs enable it to lodge itself on a leaf stem. Its stick-like body can stay motionless for hours while waiting for its victim. Its food is a staggering variety of prey such as insects like flies, frogs, mice, lizards, fish, and small birds.
The mantis has been called the praying mantis, because its waiting posture of two forelegs clasped together gives it the appearance of praying. This appearance serves only to deceive and catch prey: no wonder, the praying mantis is also called preying mantis.
The mantis is respected for being the fastest living creature due to its preying action. When its prey is within range, it shoots out its front claws at speeds that have been variously reported at 30 to 50 thousandths of a second, 23 metres per second, and 80 kilometres per hour. These claws have a spring-like strike mechanism that stores energy in its muscles for release at blurring speeds and great power. This effort has been measured at 470,000 watts of power per kilogram of muscle — far higher power than the muscles that any other living creature can deliver.
The mantis' courage easily overshadows its light body. It has attached lizards, frogs, and snakes, all bigger and heavier than itself. [Below: a mantis attacks a lizard, much heavier than itself. Picture courtesy: Mr Shankar LK Rama,
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The mantis has evoked different reactions in different countries: respect, love, and fear. ‘Mantis’ means prophet, seer, or 'one who divines' in Greek, a name probably earned from its praying position. This austere reputation belies its cannibalistic habits, which it shares with the tarantula, a venomous eight-legged spider. The female mantis is larger than the male, and has been found to bite off the male’s head during mating. The male tarantula must run away after the mating exercise; otherwise, it risks being eaten by the female.
The mantis has a famous, but little-known, past. It is responsible for the origin of the martial arts technique called kung-fu. According to the late Bruce Lee (remember Enter the Dragon?), Chinese monks were incarcerated in their cells by their political rulers for failure to pay taxes. With nothing useful to do, the monks watched mantises fight each other on the window sills of their cells. From the mantis claw movements and footwork, they developed kung-fu as a form of weapon-less defence tactics; this later led to the establishment of the famed Shaolin temple. Today, the kung-fu practice is much more than martial arts, but it all began with the low-profile mantis.
The mantis is an unusual creature. Although physically small, it demonstrates patience, speed and unusual courage to deal with its environment. These are traits that are not only necessary for survival, but are vital for learning. The playing mantis will be our guide.