This episode of Deep Look is brought to you by Curiosity Stream.
This mantis is at the top of her game.
All summer, she’s been bulking up on grasshoppers and flies.
They’re called bordered mantises.
Ambush hunters, cloaked by camouflage - some green and some brown.
And check out those forelimbs... they’re lined with sharp spikes - almost like a couple
extra sets of jaws to grab her prey.
They’ve served her well.
But summer is coming to an end here in California's Owens Valley.
The one thing left for them to do is start the next generation.
She sends out a chemical signal - an alluring cocktail of pheromones - into the air.
This guy picks up the message.
He’s way, way smaller than she is - simply outclassed when it comes to strength and deadliness.
He makes his move, to pass on his genes for
Uhhh…
That’s one way to go.
And he’s not the only male to meet his end this way.
So why would praying mantises do this - eat their own kind at a rather intimate moment?
Seems like they wouldn’t last long as a species.
Well, it takes a ton of energy for females to produce their eggs - about a hundred of
them, developing inside her.
She’ll lay them in a foamy cluster like this called an ootheca.
So that male is fueling the survival of his species, nutritionally-speaking.
When they hatch in the spring, there will be plenty more mantises to replace this one.
And these bordered mantises weren’t going to live much longer anyway.
They can’t survive the cold autumn nights.
So males might as well take a shot.
Aww... this time it worked out.
He delivers a packet of sperm to fertilize her eggs.
But each time, it’s a serious gamble.
Well, that didn't go so well.
But wait, look...
He's been decapitated, but his body is still moving
Like it’s on autopilot – kind of a zombie mating machine.
It’s being controlled by nerves in the mantis’ abdomen and can still... get the job done.
In fact, males who successfully mate and get eaten in the process may father more eggs
than those who get away.
So, while it may not really seem that way, this guy may be the ultimate winner in the
primal quest to pass on his genes.
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Hi it’s Lauren again.
So those mantises – pretty weird, right?
But that’s what we love about the natural world – it’s always surprising.
Subscribe to Deep Look so you don’t miss the other jaw-dropping things we’re finding
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Thanks for watching Deep Look and see you next time!