Grisly video shows praying mantis eating brain of a murder hornet

[IceWizard]

Grisly video shows praying mantis 
eating brain of a murder hornet

May 7, 2020 | 11:17am | Updated


Mantis Eats Murder Hornet


Praying may save us from murder hornets after all.

Wild video posted online shows a giant Asian hornet
finally meeting its match: a brain-gobbling praying mantis.

The clip starts with the mantis completely still as its five
eyes patiently watch the hornet — an insect that can grow
to 2 inches long, is known to kill up to 50 people a year in
Japan, and recently arrived in the US.

The mantis suddenly springs forward with its long, modified
front legs, keeping a vise-like grip on the doomed hornet,
which twists and tries to turn its head in feeble attempts to
put up a fight.

The long-legged carnivore then starts pecking away at the
hornet — eventually eating its head and brains.

“Thank you for this nightmare,” remarked one Twitter user
of the video posted online, which had been viewed almost
160,000 times by Thursday morning.

The so-called murder hornets have struck terror after it
emerged last week that they have reached the US, after
sightings in Washington state.

Clips proving how devastating their sting is, as well as how
easily they can kill larger animals like mice, only added
to the nightmares.

But for many animals, praying mantises — of which there
are over 1,000 species — are a major threat, too, with them
devouring moths, crickets and grasshoppers as well as frogs,
lizards, snakes and even birds.

They also chomp on their own kind, with adult females eating
their mate just after — or even during — mating,
National Geographic says.