Mantid of the week

14 comments

1. 

   Sara

   July 21, 2006 at 10:40 am (UTC -6)

   Heh — I can just hear the arguments:

   “Why, I wouldn’t copulate with you and eat your head if I were starving and you were the last male mantid on earth!”

   or

   “Ew, that’s disgusting! I’d sooner wrap my mandible around a funk-filled bratwurst!”

2. 

   Ledasmom

   July 21, 2006 at 10:42 am (UTC -6)

   Aw, cute mantid.

3. 

   Blume

   July 21, 2006 at 10:54 am (UTC -6)

   Next up: reevaluation of the black widow spider.

4. 

   Sylvanite

   July 21, 2006 at 11:24 am (UTC -6)

   Why were they starving the mantids? Damn patriarchy.

5. 

   ArtsyReader

   July 21, 2006 at 11:41 am (UTC -6)

   De-lurking to admire the mantid, also to express deep and abiding appreciation for the Spinster Aunt. Any more pictures of Burt and/or dinner?

6. 

   Pony

   July 21, 2006 at 11:48 am (UTC -6)

   Fuck entymolog(ists) (y). Just slide over here to botany for a bit:

   The Botany of Desire
   A Plant’s Eye View of the World
   Michael Pollan

   In which he sez:

   “Witches and sorcerers cultivated plants with the power to cast spells–in our vocabulary, psychoactive plants. {He lists some plants and the psychoactive chemicals the witches would get from them.) These ingredients would be combined in a hempseed-oil based “flying ointment” that the witches would then administer vaginally using a special dildo. This was the special “broomstick” by which these women were said to travel.”

   Fascinating bit of information no? Not to mention, I could work on my hobby and travel too.

7. 

   saltyC

   July 21, 2006 at 12:28 pm (UTC -6)

   It’s true, I learned in Entomology class like twenty years ago that the female eating the male has never been observed in natural conditions. Stephen Jay Gould wrote about the myth in an essay call “Only the Wings Remained” or something like that, in the book _The Flamingo’s Smile_.

   I think Nikki Craft was involved with the research that debunked that myth, or the sociological roots of why the myth took hold of people’s imagination. I don’t believe she forgot whom to blame.

8. 

   kathy a

   July 21, 2006 at 4:41 pm (UTC -6)

   salty — “i don’t believe she forgot who to blame” is a summary deserving of a prize.

   subject an organism to extreme stress, and you get either unusual behavior or death. i’m good with that for the fucking cancer cells, but not for research about the “normal” behavior of complex female organisms.

9. 

   KTal

   July 21, 2006 at 6:33 pm (UTC -6)

   Thanks Salty for mentioning nikki craft, although she didn’t expose the myth, she uses the symbol in much of her activism. You got me to go to her many pages and then beyond, spent the whole day casually reading lotsa stuff.

   That’s what I like so much about this place, I can chip away at my ignorance. Thanks.

10. 

    Chasingmoksha

    July 22, 2006 at 6:01 am (UTC -6)

    I will pass on this one. Seems too phallic for me.

11. 

    Sydney

    July 22, 2006 at 7:13 am (UTC -6)

    Oh screw the mantises anyway. You still have plenty of spiders who do it, right?

12. 

    kristi

    July 22, 2006 at 8:07 am (UTC -6)

    I used to raise mantids when I was a kid (yes, I was/am a geek), and my females often ate everything BUT the head. I wasn’t starving them, either … they were just voracious eaters. Female mantids don’t take any shit from anybody. ;)

13. 

    ::wendy::

    July 22, 2006 at 11:11 am (UTC -6)

    I’ve been loyal to my dream of a lotus elise ever since I first saw one on the road in the UK in the early 80′s. Recently I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing my 12yr old honda civic with a Toyota Prius.

    Now I I’ll dream of selling my home, living in my office (I know I can sleep under the desk – I tried it), and buying this pretty thang…. …thanks!

14. 

    Julie

    July 22, 2006 at 1:30 pm (UTC -6)

    Beautiful mantid! Bugs SO rule!