How To Make Friends With A Praying Mantis

If you've ever seen a praying mantis hunting an insect much larger than itself, you may have thought information technology had to exist pretty smart to take downwardly such a foe. But is that true? How smart are praying mantises? Are they the smartest insects in the world, or are there some insects that are much smarter than they are? Proceed reading as nosotros dive into the answers to these questions.

How Smart are Praying Mantises?

The smartness of about insects is unclear and hard to measure. While many insects display behaviors that suggest intelligence, information technology's non always like shooting fish in a barrel to determine whether these behaviors are based on instinct or on thoughtful decision making.

In the case of praying mantises, many of their behaviors are considered instinctual–for case, they will hunt any insect they can catch and subdue, including members of their own species. The instinctive need for food is what drives this behavior.

But some of their behaviors announced to be more than calculated. Some take demonstrated a trend to return to the same hunting areas where they had success in the by.

In these cases, the instinct to detect food may be coupled with thinking and decision-making skills that help them decide where to wait for food.

Male praying mantises have besides shown an power to make decisions when choosing a mate. Many males seem to have a preference for fatter, more well fed females, and they typically arroyo stealthily from behind when mating; both actions can limit their chances of being eaten past the female person during copulation.

What's more, praying mantises have excellent vision; they appear to recognize familiar objects and maybe even faces they've seen before. They seem to be able to distinguish between friendly, familiar people and unfamiliar people or predators.

This ability suggests that praying mantises tin be taught through utilize of visual clues.

Check out this video of a guy and a praying mantis who became inseparable friends.

Are Praying Mantises the Smartest Insects?

Because all the different kinds of insects in the world, and the difficulty in determining their levels of intelligence, it'south impossible to say which insect is the smartest of all.

That said, some insects have a reputation for being smart. While the praying mantis would certainly brand the list, information technology wouldn't exist at the height of the list.

The brains of praying mantises contain just around a million neurons–by comparison, humans accept around 100 billion. With this in heed, it's rubber to say that the intelligence of praying mantises is nowhere close to that of humans, nor does it come close to many other insects.

Then, it's possible that the behaviors we would consider "smart" may simply exist based on instincts or natural concrete processes rather than on thoughtful actions and decisions. It's possible that everything praying mantises do simply comes naturally to them and doesn't crave any thought.

Fifty-fifty if that's the instance, information technology's nonetheless pretty impressive. If praying mantises are able to recognize faces, remember good hunting grounds, and avoid aggressive mates, they are certainly able to practise a lot with their instincts.

What Insects are Smarter than Praying Mantises?

Though praying mantises are apex predators among insects, nosotros've determined that they probably aren't the smartest. Then, you may be wondering: what are some insects that are smarter than praying mantises?

Let's take a wait.

Bees: Honeybees communicate to other members of the hive to let them know nigh good sources of pollen and nectar, and they put a lot of forethought into planning their road to and from the flowers. They work together every bit a squad to maintain the hive and keep each other safe.

Ants: Ants also live together in large colonies, which takes a sure amount of intelligence and skill. Beyond that, though, they as well know how to hoard nutrient for the winter, and some types of ants even farm their own food by growing fungus on leaves and other constitute parts they collect.

Termites: Termites exhibited intelligence long before other insects. They were ane of the offset insects to farm fungus and live together in social colonies, and their ability to take care of each other and look out for the colony continues even to this day.

Butterflies: Some species of butterfly remember the best nectar sources and return to these flowers again and over again, using the aforementioned road unless they are threatened by a predator. They are able to communicate with each other and even with other insects with whom they have a symbiotic relationship.

Cockroaches: Cockroaches strategically plan to take multiple exit routes from any location. This planning requires an ability to retrieve ahead that rivals most insects and mayhap even humans.

Conclusion

Praying mantises do appear to recognize objects and faces, remember prime hunting spots, and cull mates based on survival, only information technology'due south unclear whether these actions are based on thinking skills or if they are more than instinctive. In that location are many insects considered to exist smarter than praying mantises, including bees, ants, and cockroaches.

Source: https://www.forestwildlife.org/how-smart-are-praying-mantises/