Speaking of swordsmen, many of us will first think of those swordsmen in the martial arts world, or the boy who solved a sword fairy in the yellow sand of Shuangqi Town, or fight the flying dragon with one-armed sword to save Lianfeng Ding'an and so on.
In the world of insects, there is also a kind of swordsman. They hold double knives, hide themselves quietly, and always maintain a fighting posture. Once they find a prey, between the electric light and flint, they will use both knives to move the prey. Gain.
Yes, the protagonist we are going to talk about today is the mantis we are very familiar with. Although it is not large, it can be said to be invincible in the insect world. Whether it is a large or small insect, or even some reptiles, it is just food in their eyes.
Praying Mantis is an excellent hunter, they are born to fight.
From the appearance point of view, praying mantises are very good at disguising themselves. Different praying mantises have different colors and even shapes, but their appearance colors are integrated with the environment in which they often appear. This is also their protective color, but they The protective color is not to protect yourself, more functions are to prevent prey from discovering. The reason
mantises can be invincible in the insect world is that they have three weapons, in addition to our obvious two big knives, as well as its eyes and mouth, these are their magic weapon to defeat the enemy. The
mantis is also known as the knife beetle. The three weapons on its body are the most eye-catching and count its two big knives. Here we need a close-up. It can be seen that this knife has no blade. , But it is densely covered with sharp thorns and there is a barb at the front end. It is difficult to escape any prey with such a knife.
In addition to the two iconic swords, the eyes and mouth are often overlooked, but for the praying mantis, these two weapons are as important as its swords. Its eyes are compound eyes, which are composed of many small eyes. They have very keen vision and can accurately determine the movement of their prey.
The teeth of a praying mantis have a very strong bite force. No matter how thick the beetle is, it can be easily torn apart. I have watched a video where the thick skin of a lizard is still under the mantis’s mouth. Without parry, it can be torn apart easily.
The food of mantis is far more than insects, and even with these three weapons, the mantis can almost ravage the entire insect world, and even dare to challenge some small lizards, snakes and other reptiles. For the same kind, the praying mantis will not let go, especially when the female praying mantis eats the male praying mantis after mating, it is very common. The phenomenon of
eating the same species after mating is called " sex-eating similar ", not only praying mantises, but also some spiders. This is a very interesting thing. There are many people who are studying this issue. At present, there are mainly three opinions:
, one is that the male mantis is dedicated to love. This is a bit unreliable. Don't say that the mantis has no thoughts, even if we have thoughts. How many people can truly dedicate their lives for love? The second argument of
is very simple, that is, the female praying mantis is hungry. In the eyes of the female praying mantis, the male praying mantis is just a kind of food. Some people have done experiments and found that a full female praying mantis will not eat the male praying mantis;
There is also a saying that for the needs of reproduction, the female praying mantis eating the male praying mantis can provide better nutrition.
Regardless of the real reason, it is very common for praying mantises to eat the same kind after mating. It can be said that in the life of a praying mantis there is only killing, and no matter how powerful the characters are, they are only food in their eyes, but a large part of their food is pests, so for us, the praying mantis is a beneficial insect.
The traces of praying mantises are now hard to find, no matter how powerful the swordsman is, the greed of the enemy is harder.
But I don’t know if you find it. Now the number of praying mantises in the countryside is decreasing. I saw it, at least it looks like this in our Jiaodong. What is the reason for the decrease in the number of mantises
? Some people say that it is caused by the excessive use of pesticides. I think there is a certain reason. Now we farmers are basically inseparable from farming.For pesticides and fertilizers, some pesticides will not only destroy pests, but also harm beneficial insects such as praying mantises. Therefore, the decrease in the number of praying mantises is related to the large-scale use of pesticides.
But I think this is not the key. Here, the decrease in the number of mantises has a lot to do with the collection of mantis eggs. The eggs of
praying mantis are also called cuttlefish. They used to be seen in the wild in rural areas, especially in winter when the leaves are gone. Z1z
can be used as medicine. It was purchased in our rural areas in the past few years. Later, the price gradually increased. I remember that a catty rose from a few dozen yuan to nearly 200 yuan later. With such a price, some people can’t bear the temptation of money. When they are idle in winter, they will be looking for these scuttles all over the mountain. Don’t look at the weight of a mantis egg, but if you do it all day. At that time, it was also possible to collect a lot. There used to be people in our village who collected cuttlefish and made several thousand yuan a year. Although
doesn’t make a lot of money, but seeing that someone can make money from this, more and more people start this business when there is nothing to do in the winter, or make time for it, or just do it easily. Anyway, it was discovered. The cuttlefish basically can't stay.
After years of this, there are fewer and fewer cuttlefish in the wild here, and naturally there are fewer and fewer mantises. Although there are very few people who specialize in picking mantises, it is difficult to increase the number of mantises to what they used to be.
, under the temptation of some petty profits, the swordsmen who deliberately rampage in the insect world, failed to escape the clutches of some people.
Some people say that nowadays praying mantis can still be seen occasionally, is it as serious as you said? We often say that we should not go fishing, the decrease in the number of praying mantises is worth our vigilance!
If we still only care about the small interests in front of us, regardless of the consequences, after a few years, will our descendants only see the mantis in books or videos? Will everything we see now disappear gradually?
