Idolo Threat Display! (video)

[Precarious]

Only one of the two adults does this and only when I have her on the ficus tree. As you'll hear there is an element of sound to the display. Sounds like a switch blade! I think she's rubbing one of her legs along the edge of her wing or the wings themselves make the sound. One more reason this is the coolest mantis species in the world!

Music by Precarious

Not a great photo. I'll try to be better prepared next time...

 

[myzticalboi]

WOWWWWWW! Speechless at the end of the video! Was that the actual sound it made when it made its threat display?

 

[Precarious]

WOWWWWWW! Speechless at the end of the video! Was that the actual sound it made when it made its threat display?

Absolutely real and unaltered. All I did was boost the volume by only 2 or 3 dB, which is nothing.

I heard that sound the first time she did it but since I wasn't recording I just assumed it was her scraping a branch or something by accident. In the video you can see her purposefully moving her rear left leg in a way that looks like she uses it to rub the edge of her wing. Go to

so you can see it fullsize.I'll look into this in more detail and figure out exactly what's going on. I hadn't hear of this until I heard it with my own ears.

 

[ebjno2]

Great footage [and sound] - and brings me to a question [although I was thinking of posting this as a separate thread too, so I'll see what sort of responses I get from you guys..] but, what do people find the best way to elicit a threat display [for photographic purposes] without risking damage to the mantis in question? I notice that in this instance you're just using your fingers but in my experience that often just doesn't work. I'm [for instance] currently considering using a bird silhouette or similar.. Do people have any other ideas/ trusted techniques?

 

[sporeworld]

Funny. All this time, I thought that sound was the katydids.

 

[Precarious]

what do people find the best way to elicit a threat display

It varies with each species and depends on the mood of the mantis. Like I said, only the one Idolo does this and for some reason only when on this tree. I guess she feels she should be invisible when on the tree. You can tell she's in that mode because she pulls her claws up to the side of her face and skews her whole body to one side. I have other species that never show a threat display.

My female Ghosts and Unicorns only do it when confronting another mantis.

Popa spurca do it for any old reason.

Every now and then my Mega does it out of the blue, which is cute - he rocks back and forth with his arms spread. I'd love to catch that on video but he's so unpredictable. If I try to make him do it he flies away.

Sometimes if you make your hand crawl like a big spider they freak out! I've seen people use a small paint brush to annoy them. You've just got to experiment and see what works for your particular mantis. I try not to annoy them too much, but it is cool to see the display.

 

[kitkat39]

Man I WISH I could make mine flair up! Consistent poking does nothing more than make it smack my finger.. then eventually turning around and running away. =P

 

[Precarious]

Man I WISH I could make mine flair up! Consistent poking does nothing more than make it smack my finger.. then eventually turning around and running away. =P

I hear ya. I thought mine were defective because they never did it. Something about that ficus tree brings out her dark side. She's a pussycat any other time.

 

[kitkat39]

I hear ya. I thought mine were defective because they never did it. Something about that ficus tree brings out her dark side. She's a pussycat any other time.

I'm going to go out and buy myself a ficus tree now.. then after I've gotten them to flair up and everything, I will bring it back to the store with a receipt and return it for my money back. LOL! That idea is full of WIN! WoOooooOOOooHOoooOOoooOoooo!!!

 

[guapoalto049]

In my experience its easy to get her to threaten when you surprise her. I let it climb somewhere out of sight, then make sure I approach her really quickly with my hands up.

I also try not to do it often, but I'm 5/5 on that technique. Other mantids don't bother her, I had a female shield walk to ~8" in front of her and she just watched it.

 

[sporeworld]

Yeah, mine only seemed to do it when their surroundings were changed (out on the desk, new enclosure, etc). They did it constantly as babies, but just chilled as adults. once secure in their enclosure, they didn't do it no matter what crawled by or over them. My violins, in particular would just scoot on by all restless and they'd just glare at em. Pretty entertaining.

 

[Idolofreak]

Awesome video! LOVE the sound at the end during the threat display. The idolos are my favorite mantids by far, and I love watching them.

 

[Idolofreak]

And holding them, they're awesome.

 

[Katnapper]

Awesome!!! Thanks for letting us see (and hear!). That was great!