Praying Mantis: Fierce and Fascinating Garden Bugs 

Learn about the items that a praying mantis will consume and how to draw in these helpful insects. Discover more about the eggs and young of praying mantises.

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Perhaps you have seen a praying mantis hiding in a dense garden hedge or clinging to a slender branch. These massive insects, which have their front legs curled in a manner like prayer, are entertaining to observe and difficult to ignore.  

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When you combine their peculiar behavior—such as tilting their heads sideways and pursuing both large and small prey—praying mantises emerge as some of the most fascinating and ferocious insects in your garden.  

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Only a small number of the world's well over a thousand species of mantids reside in North America.  

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Because of the way the insect holds its forelimbs in front of its thorax, they are collectively referred to as "praying mantis."   

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Its calm posture, however, is misleading because it's actually waiting for an unwary bug to approach too closely, giving the impression that it's in profound concentration.  

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