Budwing vs. Dragonfly

[mantiscraze]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_NRat_YD4

 

[ismart]

Awesome!

 

[rs4guy]

Indeed this is!

 

[gripen]

that bud wing must feel really manly after that! i mean err womanly!

 

[angelofdeathzz]

GO GO Budwings!!!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

What a boss!

 

[Gotmantis]

beautiful photos just beautiful how did you manage to take them?

 

[Lylelovett666]

Female BWs seem to be scary animals.Mine is very aggressive and eats non stop.Since I mated her she's taken on a real nasty disposition.

 

[lancaster1313]

Sometimes, it still surprises me how quick mantids stick their faces into struggling prey and just nom nom away like it is nothing to be kicked and flapped in the face. :mellow:

Was the dragonfly releasing eggs while being eaten?

 

[mantiscraze]

those do appear to be eggs released from the dragonfly's abdomen...

hard to film using manual focus, will get better with more practice.

 

[Idolofreak]

Cool. I was volunteering at the insect building at the zoo here in Omaha last Wednesday. I was feeding out the mantids and there was a real nasty Carolina female that was almost as aggressive as a budwing. Tony (Keeper who takes care of the exotic bugs) for some reason had the Carolina in the same cage with a huge green female Chinese. I looked in there a little while later, and the Carolina was gone and the Chinese was REALLY fat. Wonder what happened there. He also had a really aggressive green female Carolina in another cage. I was feeding her a moth w/ some tweezers, and she grabbed the moth in one arm and the tweezers in the other. I'll bet you can guess which one she chewed on first. :lol:

 

[mantiscraze]

Here are some top view videos of the budwing nibbling away the dragonfly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_lnbTUXjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx9A5hUvFSM