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Dear Cecil:
I want the dirt. Is Mrs. Mantis really
guilty of biting off Mr. Mantis's head immediately after they
consummate their mantis marriage? I hear it's only a vicious rumor
and that Mrs. Mantis is getting a bad rap. --Victois M., Chandler,
Dear
Arizona
Dear Vic:
The stories about Mrs. M. are a little exaggerated,
but they're no rumor. And believe me, you ain't heard the half of
it. Not only is Mrs. Mantis notorious for chowing down on her man
apres romance, sometimes she bites his head off
during the act. What's more, it doesn't discourage him
in the slightest--if anything, it inspires him to greater
heights.
In fairness to Mrs. Mantis, she doesn't always have her
mate for lunch. In most of the 1500 species of mantis, in fact,
cannibalism is fairly rare. Past reports of mass slaughter were
based on observations in the lab, a stressful environment that
apparently brought out the female mantis's bad side.
But even in
the field, male manticide occurs "more often than not" in
Mantis religiosa, the one type of praying mantis "from
which the whole group gets its bad reputation," according to one
researcher. Here's the scenario: "The male usually tries to
approach the female undetected, to seize her unawares, but often
he is seen, and the female then catches and eats him, usually
beginning at the head. The loss of his head, however, galvanizes
the male into action, and he can successfully complete copulation
without it. [The male climbs on the female's back and assumes the
position before his partner starts to dig in.] This behaviour
pattern, in which she devours the male, is of obvious advantage to
the female, and to the species, because she is able to put to good
use an otherwise worthless mass of protein."
Another writer
notes, "If a male praying mantis is decapitated the body will
immediately assume the reflex attitudes which are characteristic of
copulation." In other words, we are talking about a species that
has become dependent not just on cannibalism but on S&M to
perpetuate itself.
The spectacle of M. religiosa
mating is something no human male can contemplate without emotion.
On the one hand, you have to admire a lad who can do his connubial
duty under what must be described as very trying circumstances. On
the other hand--let us speak frankly here--it is wounding to have
a member of the sex described as a "worthless mass of protein." One
weeps to think what it does to the ego of Mr. Mantis. Not only does
the female of the species not value you for your mind; by the time
she gets done with you you don't even HAVE a
mind.
Sexual cannibalism is not confined to the mantis. A type of
fly known as Serromyia femorata mates by snuggling up to
its partner and engaging in what sounds like an exceptionally
vigorous french kiss: "At the end of mating," it says here, "the
female sucks out the body content of the male through the mouth."
Believe me, I'll never complain about a lack of female
aggressiveness again.
Female spiders also eat their mates on
occasion, although contrary to popular belief the black widow
spider (Latrodectus mactans, et al) is not conspicuously
energetic in this regard. On the other hand, black widows do have
a tendency to nibble on their kiddies ... but let's take this
up later.
WHY DO I ENCOURAGE THESE PEOPLE?
Dear Cecil:
Your
article on Mr. and Mrs. Mantis caught my eye. I'm interested in the
subject of peculiar sexual habits, particularly the deadly ones,
found within the animal and insect kingdoms. I enclose an article
I thought you might get a chuckle out of. --Chris S., Santa
Monica, California
Dear Chris:
The article, clipped from the Los
Angeles Times, discusses the mating habits of the ant:
"When
the mating urge comes, something pretty stupendous happens--by
human standards. 'Both the queen [female] and the prince [male]
have wings,' Levine [ant tycoon] said. 'They fly 100 feet straight
up in the air and mate.' After the quick tryst, several things
happen, all bad in the case of the male. 'His wings fall off and he
drops dead,' Levine said. 'The female also sheds her wings and
falls to the ground. Then she begins laying eggs almost
immediately. For possibly as long as the next 15 years after that
single mating, she lays eggs almost continuously. Hundreds of
thousands of them. The survivors become her colony.'"
And you
thought YOUR pregnancy was rough.
--CECIL ADAMS
The Straight Dope / Questions or
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