Animal Report!
Tucker did a great job with his 4th grade report. He choose the praying mantis, and wrote a paper, and made an poster:
And I think his report is my favorite!
Praying Mantis
by Tucker Phillips
Introduction
The praying mantis is a born hunter and you have probably seen one before. It is very cool, common and there is usually at least one or two in your backyard during spring.
Description
The praying mantis is a hunter who is usually green or brown. When they are born they are light brown usually resembling his\her parents. It is usually ½ cm to 4 in long.
Home
They usually live near a plant or in a garden or field that is warm and has bugs and is sunny, warm and a good place to lay egg sacs. They usually live in Northern America, Northern Africa, Asia, temperate rainforests, and Southern Europe.
Food
The praying mantis will usually eat whatever is available. It is commonly thought that they will only eat bugs such as aphids, mosquitoes, flies, roaches, bees, cricket, butterflies, grasshoppers, beetles, and spiders, but they will also eat small birds, such as hummingbirds and sparrows. Also they eat minnow tadpoles and other small fish.
Winter
During winter they die…but have usually already laid eggs in an egg sac, which is a hard case that many kinds of bugs lay eggs in, and is similar to a cocoon. The egg sac will usually burst around the beginning of spring or slightly earlier.
Facts
Some cool facts about praying mantises are listed below:
1. Mantis means prophet in greek.
2. An 80,000 year old praying mantis was recently found in amber. This bug could be the link between modern day insects and the dinosaurs from ancient past!!!
3. The praying mantis is a pure barbarian. It will usually eat it’s mate after mating.
4. Praying mantis will often be put into farmers gardens purposely because they eat other bugs.
5. Praying mantis have been know to attack cats and SURVIVE!!!
Plants
A few plants that live near the praying mantis are trees which they often lay their eggs in or live in. Also they will live in bushes or pea plants or vines.
Adaptations
Some adaptations praying mantis have are:
1. They are usually green or brown to blend in with the nearby plants or other places to live in.
2. Another reason praying mantis survive is there protective egg sac. It will shield them from the cold and any other kind of threat that could face the young mantis.
3. Adult praying mantis will have barbed claws for attacking prey.
Predators
The main predators of the praying mantis are large fish, who will devour egg sacs, bats who will swoop down and devour them in the night and last of all birds who will grab it or any other insect it sees.
Conclusion
Finally here’s the conclusion. Praying mantises are very cool. It is a hunter but here’s a big question? Can they socialize? The answer usually not with their kind but they will crawl on human hands without hurting us. The big answer….sometimes!!! Well I’m out of ideas, so I guess this is the end.