It is an amazing day outside. The wind is chilly and the sun is out.
The smells of fall are in the air and we just wanted to be near the big picture window with the sun shining in and the windows opened. We also were quite enjoying the wind chimes chiming.
The kids were working quietly on their states and Kaleb jumps up and yells...
"LOOK IT IS A PRAYING MANTIS"
sure enough, on our picture window , just on the other side of the glass was a Praying Mantis.
Of coarse, we had to take a break from our study of the states to take a few minutes to study this fascinating creature.
We put him in a big pickle jar with wholes in the lid. We put some grass in the bottom for comfort and we set off on the trusty old internet for some fun facts about them.
The boys were really curious to see what they ate. So we checked that out and we also wondered if it were a Mr. or a Mrs. ... come to find out. He is a he. We know this as (according to the internet) boys are brown and the girls are green!
It wasn't a long study, I wasn't prepared but, we couldn't let this opportunity go by without doing ANY thing.
Here is our guy in his new home (just till this evening when my hubby gets home, then we will release him, the kids REALLY want to show Daddy).
and something the kids did from the facts they learned.
Here they drew a picture of a male and female
and also the things they remembered that they
ate.
Did you know they eat frogs, lizards and small birds. Hard to imagine.
also
Most of the Mantis population is in Africa. Africa has 880 species
while North America only has 20! And that most live in tropical areas of the world.
They also live about a year!
They also lay eggs in this frothy substance. This substance
turns hard and can protect the eggs even through the winter!
I found all of these facts pretty interesting and I must say, I have only seen a couple in my life
I have never encountered a male (probably because the female bites the males head off)
Anyway.. we had some fun and the kids are enjoying watching him on the shelf. Abby just belly laughs
at him!
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