Praying Mantis Hunting Strategy

Praying Mantises are highly adaptive predators. There have been claims of their catching significantly bigger prey than expected, but most claims were unsubstantiated or, occurred during a controlled environment. However, one was discovered exhibiting a specific hunting strategy. A praying mantis was seen at night eating guppies which reveals impressive eyesight even in the dark. It also suggests the mantis has strong cognitive skills as it returned to the same place over a period of five days and indicates mantises may be able to learn from their experiences.

They can see in 3D but their depth perception works as long as the prey moves. As guppies have a large tail which moves while swimming, the mantis was able to track the fish even under water.

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