Some time ago, a praying mantis decided to lay her eggs on a plant in my house. Praying mantis egg cases are very interesting as she lays sometimes hundreds of eggs in a really interesting formation then covers them with a kind of foam which then hardens to protect the eggs until the "big day"! The egg mass is called an ootheca and is firmly attached to the plant.
I had been watching the ootheca for a while but then forgot about it until.......I noticed hundreds of little creatures (baby mantis) on and around the plant.
I watched amazed as I discovered more and more of these miniature creatures. I carefully collected as many as I could and gently placed them outside, hoping for the best as I think they may have hatched a little early (my heater confused them I think).
This is the ootheca....
Click here Baby Praying Mantis hatching to see an interesting video!
4 comments:
I love looking at this blog and the beautiful pictures of the children and he gardens. Those peace stones look gorgeous and it is so important for the students to learn about such things from the past and never repeat what happened. Wouldn't it be great if all those little preying mantis survived.
Thanks for visiting my blog Caroline. The kids certainly were very taken with the story about Hiroshima and Sadako which then lead onto creating our Peace stones in the Peace Garden....Sadako was around their ages when she died....
hello Ruth I like your blog im looking forward to reading some more of your blog.
Thanks Chloe. It's great that you are reading my blog. Are there any pictures of you?? What is your favourite part of our gardens?
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