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Praying Mantis


Love is beautiful… or is it?

Have you ever wondered how these little beautiful insects mate? How do they pass their genes on to the next generation? Enter one of the most intrigued insects: praying mantises.

During the mating season, the male mantises might be a little more active to look for their mates. While courting, they might lose more than just the heart, looking for loved ones can be a suicide mission. How?

After a praying mantis couple mates, the female bites off the head of the male she mates with. After the eggs are fertilized, the female then devours the male’s rest of the body. As terrifying as it sounds, it has a beautiful meaning. Apparently, mates that exhibit cannibalism increases the chances of paternal DNA to be passed down. They also appear to lay more eggs than they normally would. The male mantis literally sacrifices himself to elevate the chance of his DNA being passed down on to the next generation.

Tho not all praying mantis cannibalize their mates, when they do, it’s what we called ‘true love’.

Love can break one's heart, but it can also eat the whole of you!


Keywords

  • Genes: A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes are made up of DNA. Some genes act as instructions to make molecules called proteins. However, many genes do not code for proteins. In humans, genes vary in size from a few hundred DNA bases to more than 2 million bases.

  • Cannibalism: Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species.

  • DNA: DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, which is the molecule inside cells that contains the genetic information responsible for the development and function of an organism. DNA molecules allow this information to be passed from one generation to the next.


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References

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/basics/gene/
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/genetics-dictionary/def/dna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os3OBJSlpUc