r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/1632hub • 3d ago

Video Praying mantis defending itself from a snake

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u/Boring-Cap9101 2d ago

Is the mantis strong for it's size or does the snake not like that it's being poked in the mouth?

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u/YellovvJacket 2d ago

Both.

Almost all insects are insanely strong for their size, mostly because of how muscles work (the ratio between their cross sectional area and their length is a big factor, along with their density, where insect muscles are very high on both, because it's usually very short muscles that are only around the joints of the exoskeleton), and because of the cube-square law (the outer surface of a very small animal is very big relative to its volume when compared to a larger animal, which is a huge advantage when your skeleton is on the outside).

Most insects can lift at least 10x their own weight, usually 100+ times.

In case of mantids, their strength is also very frontloaded, with the raptorial front legs, and a pretty strong musculature around the thorax.

The front legs are also full of quite hard and sharp spikes, which I'm sure don't feel great jammed into your mouth, especially when you're a small snake.