PHOTOS: Possibly pregnant praying mantis provides piggyback ride?

Two years ago in September of 2020, PentictonNow offered graphic proof that praying mantises eat moths.

Today we're back with another uncomfortable truth: Praying mantises give piggyback rides.

Or do they?

We spotted the curious scene after watering our planter. Praying mantises don’t like water, and they'll usually emerge immediately from the planter's plants when they detect it.

But this time we got a double dose. There were two mantises, one seemingly riding on the back of the other.

Were they playing? Had we caught them during recess?

Ummm…no.

After a little research, we realized the piggyback posture is in fact the mating posture. The smaller male jumps on the backside of the larger female and they do their thing. The copulation position can last for hours.

Sure enough when we circled around later in the afternoon, the make-out session was still in full swing.

Today, we hesitate to revisit the scene. According to most of the reliable sources we could find, the female may reward the male for a job well done by eating his head. And sometimes his body too.

Even more horrifically, the male can continue mating even with his head removed.

Ew.

Granted, not all males are beheaded. But we weren't taking any chances. A potentially headless copulating male is not something we want to see.

But one thing we couldn't escape: The female was likely pregnant. Her abdomen was clearly larger than is typical.

But in yet one more icky turn of events, it was also pulsating. You can see for yourself in the vid below.

See you in another two years with more love for the weird, wacky and sometimes cannibalistic praying mantis.