I hadn’t seen one of these magnificent creatures in awhile. The last one being near the horticulture offices of the L.A. Zoo… and that was two years ago. Coincidentally, after going through and checking out some of my Flickr contacts’ latest submissions yesterday and finding this fine one posted, I wondered how long it might be until I encountered one myself.
Sure enough I went to let Ranger out into the backyard and sitting righting smack dab on the backdoor screen was this gorgeous representative of one of the fiercest and most ruthless predators on the planet. This one’s three-inches long.
Eventually and with the aid of a stick for it to climb up on (after it first attacked it viciously) I was able to relocate the mantis to an environment more condusive to getting it something to eat, and that’s where I photographed it after it had assumed its deceptively humble inverted position of patient impending doom for some unsuspecting prey. It’s still there this morning…. waiting and watching.
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