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Praying mantis love is way weirder than you think

5 minutes

When is it worth sacrificing your life for the next generation?

The tempestuous sex lives of praying mantises have long been fodder for cartoons and trivia nights, but what really happens when these wonderfully weird insects procreate? Yes, the female sometimes eats the male during or after sex, but that’s not where the intrigue ends. Captured in astonishing (and occasionally harrowing) detail, this video from the science and nature documentary series Deep Look probes the latest in mantis-mating research, detailing why their seemingly strange ritual is actually a remarkable example of evolutionary efficiency. Read more about the video at KQED Science.

Video by KQED Science and PBS Digital Studios

Producer and Writer: Josh Cassidy

Narrator and Writer: Lauren Sommer

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Support Aeon

Become a Friend for $5 a month or Make a one-off donation

Become a Friend of Aeon or Make a donation

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge. Our mission is to create a sanctuary online for serious thinking.
But we can’t do it without you.

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview.
But we can’t do it without you.

Essay/
Evolution
Evolving street-smarts

Living among humans favours fearless problem-solvers interested in new things. That's how city birds get smarter

Menno Schilthuizen

Essay/
History of Science
What is good science?

Demanding that a theory is falsifiable or observable, without any subtlety, will hold science back. We need madcap ideas

Adam Becker