Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Praying to be Rescued...


A few days ago we were all going home from the school day when this wonderful praying mantis was discovered trying to navigate the asphalt parking lot of our school. She had no chance of surviving the after-hours parking lot exodus, (it was a female and I know this as the female kills their male mates after doing certain things together), just no chance in the least of reaching a green sanctuary before getting totally squished by the many car tires heading out of the parking lot. I tried to pick her up and a student tried as well, to no avail. I went looking for a stick or something for her to cling on to, but in the interim, another gal found a paper plate that Ms. Mantis happily climbed on to. Her rescuer let her loose on a patch of grass - and I hope this had a happy praying mantis ending (though I didn't stick around to see that)!

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Hey, Dodgie, this one's for you!
All I could think of is how you would have rescued this mantis and made her safe!


7 comments:

  1. Dodgie would have just picked her up! Praying mantis don't bite & they are actually pretty happy with being handled gently.

    Beautiful critter.

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  2. we had a lovely big one on the truck the other day and a walking stick too... i had to move him/her to a tree... it climbed on a stick for me :)

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  3. You are the patron saint of critters .. St Annie of the Tombstones!

    Neat shot ..

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  4. You are my hero! Can we change your name to the Mantis Whisperer?

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  5. It's always fascinating to find one of these! I would say they are entirely 'rare' in Iowa, but I'm always surprised to see them. Nice shot--it looks like he might have been difficult to discover.

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  6. Your good deed for the day will be rewarded tenfold.

    It's the rule of the universe.

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  7. Cool! These are my 2nd favorite insect. I think they are WAY more intelligent than any other insect. I love it when they look at me.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a thought. It's appreciated! xoabb