This Is Why Snakes Are Afraid of Mantises

meet the mantis yeah what happened was exactly what you thought an insect killed a bird once again an insect killed a bird in fact mantises aren't just strange they're real killing machines they can kill not only the representatives of their species but also birds snakes and can even engage in a fight with a cat but what makes mantises so fearless aggressive and bloodthirsty let's find out usually the food chain looks quite logical and understandable well you know cats hunt mice lizards eat insects but that's not the case of the mantis [Music] it's best defense is an attack and not just a short attack look at this lizard anyone would be shocked if a potential lunch attacked them and not only attacked but also rapid movement now the powerful front legs squeeze the head of the lizard not letting it close its jaws and that's it the mantis thinks it's enough it can start eating the prey alive but even after the prey escaped it couldn't save itself the mantis caught the lizard and twisted his neck the mantas are definitely the rulers of the insect world using their deadly front legs which they usually keep clasped together these monsters seem to be able to grab anyone most often the mantis sets up an ambush merging with the leaves or tree bark to attack unexpectedly with their front legs they catch the prey at such a speed that their movement is difficult to track with a human eye and the very structure of the body of the mantis is such that it makes the insect an ideal killer they have triangular heads located on a long neck or elongated chest they have everything to comfortably reach for the prey the mantis can rotate its head 180 degrees to scan the environment with two large complex eyes and three other simple ones located between them the whole set not a single movement around will go unnoticed and what about those same grip four legs covered with spikes with their help the mantis keeps its prey in place and it doesn't care about the size of this very prey and its opinion on the matter moths crickets grasshoppers flies and other insects usually get into the menu of mantis however these insects eat their own kind too the most famous example is the infamous mating behavior of the adult female who sometimes eats her other half right after or even during mating but the mantis are fearless guys even the possibility of being eaten does not deter them from procreation but one thing is different insects including the same mantis which are not very resistant but it's quite another thing to attack snakes now we're not talking about anacondas but mantis do attack small snakes and do it with a very specific purpose widely spaced back legs for stability the mantis makes sharp attacks trying to grab the snake and if it doesn't move fast enough it can't escape from the grip of course the snakes are trying to resist by wrapping themselves around the mantis they must have not seen what happened to the lizard these insects know exactly what they do and they try to get to the head of the prey and when they do they start to eat and it doesn't matter that the snake is still hoping for salvation so who else is on the menu of the mantis mice even if these mice are the size of the mantis itself remember the lizard yes for the mantis it's not a huge dangerous opponent but rather oh how much food what can we say about some little mouse the scheme's about the same an unexpected throw powerful spiked legs squeezing the prey unsuccessful attempts to get free and a slow meal right during the fight the mouse is still twitching but the mantis doesn't care anymore it's already started dinner and this is not a sight for the faint of heart goosebumps but because of their veracity the mantis is sometimes used as a natural remedy for pest control where the mantis live you don't need to wait for the invasion of mice or cockroaches for example however because predators eat indiscriminately they can eat as many good beetles as bad ones there's a very thin line between the extermination of pests and a full garden of mantis there's a very thin line between the extermination of pests and a garden full of mantis where there's no one left at all but back to that poor bird from the beginning of the video now you probably understand that it's not the first and not the only unusual victim of these insects and the behavior of this particular mantis is absolutely typical as i said before the mantas aren't the type of predators who chase their prey like lions on the savannah most often they attack from an ambush some of the mantis are well camouflaged while others expect to stay still until their prey appears or until it gets too close however the hummingbird on the video was lucky according to the description both it and the mantis survived and this bird was also saved through human intervention if it's not for a fateful kick on the mantis the world would be one hummingbird less well no one saved these ones for example they didn't notice the danger flew too close and by the way note that the mantis sits on a special hummingbird feeder that is they know exactly where to hunt some species may even run on the ground in search of prey but much more often the mantas hide and wait until the food reaches them yep their foods delivered just like a pizza but the mantis didn't know just where to hunt they also calculate exactly the strength speed and distance of each throw this is unusual for insects for a long time scientists believe that the mantis moved as if on the same program like a winding toy and if the prey falls into the capture or not it's just a matter of luck but a number of experiments have proved that the mantis really regulates the speed of impact depending on how fast the target moves sometimes realizing that the speed was calculated incorrectly they stop then immediately correct their mistake i want to say that if it wasn't for slow motion we would never have known about it try to keep track of its movements you know the more i learn about the mantis the more i think they are the universal hunter pretty small but universal here a mantis is catching a fish the poor thing doesn't even try to resist what is going on insects shouldn't eat fish try to tell them that and here's a mantis eating a frog despite the desperate attempts to get out the frog hopes to tell it something like this insects don't eat amphibians you've got things all mixed up but it's unlikely that the mantis cares it's hungry you know they're like honey badgers but insects hoard it for lunch sure yummy and remember the mantis from kung fu panda the script writers chose such a hero intentionally the mantis were a source of inspiration for two different forms of chinese martial arts the style of the northern praying mantis and the style of the southern praying mantis they developed independently of each other and even look different however they wouldn't refer to mantis to create martial arts if these insects only knew how to attack they also have a good understanding of defense if a potential predator approaches the mantis usually gets up and spreads its front legs and wings to seem bigger some species also have patterns on the exoskeleton in order to scare away even more enemies if intimidating tactics don't work the mantis may hit or pinch the predator with its front legs it can even bite although its jaws are small they are sharp enough to hurt many enemies in addition the mantis also knows how to make hissing sounds pushing air out of the abdominal airways and it doesn't matter what kind of enemy is in front of it a bird that's going to have lunch or a too curious cat the mantis isn't afraid of anyone and then i thought is there anyone as small and cool strangely enough yes there's an underwater brother of the mantis a manta shrimp okay in fact this creature is larger and can reach 30 centimeters in length against 10 centimeters for an ordinary mantis but it's just as fearless the name mantis was attributed to the manta shrimp for the ability to instantly throw their front limbs attacking the enemy or prey it's said that this shrimp hits 50 times faster than its terrestrial brother and its formidable weapon is a second pair of limb jaws which are covered with thorns and they're sharp as a razor they pierce into the body until the prey stops resisting this is bad for everybody fish shrimps cuttlefish and shellfish since the mantis shrimp can be larger than ordinary mantas sometimes it chooses a very large rival for example an octopus which took it for easy prey and underwater mantis strikes again and again and then oh look it's as if it says come on let's see what you can do but the octopus doesn't want to show anything and is trying to get away really fast you know i don't think anybody will judge him for that except maybe the manta shrimp i think it's just getting warmed up we can only hope that the octopus won't meet another manta shrimp on a stakeout on its way because then it'll be too late to run perhaps the only marine inhabitant that can compete with the manta shrimp in its strange coolness is a snapping shrimp they look quite usual and they also have claws of different sizes which can reach half the length of a not very large body but it's in the larger claw where all the superpower of the snapping shrimp hides when it feels that its prey is nearby it opens the top of its large claw allowing water to penetrate into a small chamber in the bend then at the right moment it pushes the water out of the chamber with pressure this happens so fast that bubbles are formed and not bubbles that anyone can create by blowing into the water these bubbles accelerated almost 100 kilometers an hour just fast enough to stun or kill the prey when the bubbles burst they make a snap sound that's how the shrimps get their name because the bubbles burst loudly i mean really loudly the volume of the snaps of some species can go up to 210 decibels that's more than a gunshot which is 140 to 175 decibels both the mantis and their underwater relatives of course are striking but i wouldn't be surprised if i go through the sources to find someone even cooler do you want to know who that could be well subscribe to this channel or you'll miss everything and of course likes and comments will only make me happy we'll see you later you

Channel: WATOP

Views: 22,086,498

Keywords: WATOP, Wa Top, mantis, mantis vs snake, killer mantis, all snakes afraid of mantis, afraid, wild life, animals, top, 10, interesting facts

Id: SMMKiLpgZKw

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Bookssmellneat]

God I hate these things so much. So of course I watched the whole vid. Ugh.

[u/[deleted]]

I literally can’t believe it fucked up the lizard like that

[u/fadingtolight]

This looks like the dude who sucked the snail out of his shell, years later.

That same confused look on it's face seems familiar.

[u/mhermanos]

Not only are they assholes, but they eat assholes too!

[u/MOOD29]

These things are terrifying, I lllove it

[u/SatanSugarDaddy]

damn what the fuck