There are some strange female animals in nature. When they complete mating with males, they will immediately hunt and feed the males, and the mantis is the representative of it.
There are as many as 2400 mantis in nature, and more than 80% of the female mantis will eat male mantis during mating. Faced with this situation, why didn’t the male mantis choose to escape?
In fact, it is not that the male mantis doesn’t want to escape, but that he can’t escape. The male mantis in nature are much smaller than the female mantis, and there is a big gap in strength and speed, and the female is in a crushing state.
Every autumn comes, it is the breeding season for mantis. When the mantis reproduction is the male mantis who take the initiative to find a spouse. When they find the female mantis, they will quietly lurk behind the female mantis. Find the right time and jump quickly to the back of the female mantis. Use your two big pliers to jamm the female mantis' body.
This is mainly done to ensure safety at the beginning of mating. The male mantis is behind the female and has taken a certain advantage. Once the mating process is completed, the male mantis will run away without hesitation. Once it doesn't slip in time, it's the female mantis's meal on the plate.
For this phenomenon, it is generally believed that female mantis choose to eat the mating male mantis in order to better breed offspring. But the fact is not exactly the case.
The main reason why female mantis eats male is because they are hungry. As long as they are in a hungry state, female mantis will treat males as food. Many male mantis are directly killed by female mantis and become food when they get close. If you mate or not, put it aside first and fill your stomach.
Mantis egg
Sexual food behavior
In the 1980s, scientists conducted special experiments to study the "sexual food behavior" of mantis.
experiment set up two observation groups, each with thirty female mantis waiting to be mated. One group is thirty hungry female mantis, and the other group is the female mantis after feeding. Thirty male mantis were placed separately, but nothing unexpected happened. The hungry female mantis ate all the males, while the other group in full did not have "sexual eating behavior."
And, there is no difference in the quality and quantity of eggs produced by the two groups of experimental subjects. This shows that they will eat males just because they are simply hungry.
The male mantis' voluntary dedication
In fact, some males are willing to be eaten by the female mantis. The male mantis can only mate once in his life and will die within a few days after mating. However, female mantis needs to eat during the period of laying eggs, and when going out to search, they may encounter various dangers. Some mantis will be eaten willingly in order to be born safely for their offspring.
The central control nerve of the mantis is concentrated in the head. During mating, the female mantis eats the male's head, which is conducive to stimulating the male mantis' ejaculation and ensuring that the semen flows smoothly into the female's body. In the eaten residue, the male reproductive organs will stay in the female mantis for a period of time, which can prevent other male mantis from competing with their own genes to a certain extent.
Terrible Prion
Similar cannibalism is not accepted by nature, and for this reason, it has cursed the same cannibalism species, and this curse is prions.
When it comes to prions, there must be many people who are confused. What is prions? To put it bluntly, prions are a non-immune water-transmitting protein produced by cannibalism. Once he enters the animal's body, he will turn the protein in the body into a toxic protein.
It will gradually lead to various organs of silkworm food seeds, which will eventually lead to degenerative lesions in the central system, forming incurable symptoms. If you suffer from prions, the only fate of the animals is death. There is currently no way to treat prions, and it will also spread between different species.
In the 1980s, a large-scale "mad cow disease" broke out in the UK (cattle feed contains the body organs of cows), and in the end more than 100 people ate beef with prions. They were all infected by the terrible prions and eventually all died. The fatality rate reached a terrifying 100%.
Mantis is not afraid of prions
Such a terrifying fatality rate, why are there animals similar cannibalism? This is mainly due to the onset of prions. The incidence cycle of prions is between 2-30 years, while most cannibals are small animals with smaller sizes and lifespans of no more than three years.
These small animals die naturally if they can't wait for the prions to occur. Like a mantis, a female can live for up to two years. As long as she dies quickly, the prions will not catch up with her at all. This may also be a strategy for different species to evolve into , and the purpose is to better continuate genes.
