Orchid Mantis – Perfect Timing
Keywords:
Rainforest wisdom, getting yourself into sticky situations, perfect timing, being a predator to get what you want, ruthlessness combined with great beauty, viciousness, the value of camouflage, self-defense, using stillness to your advantage, cultivating patience.
General Description:
The orchid mantis, or orchid praying mantis is found throughout Malaysian, Indonesian and Sumatran rainforests. They are coloured to resemble orchids (and their four walking legs are shaped like orchid petals), the most common being a pale white or pink in colour. The young nymphs appear like ants. The orchid mantis, like many mantids, will eat anything it can catch. However, orchid mantids have also been observed eating banana. Like many in the mantid family, it can be extremely vicious.