Science Fair Experiment

[MantisGirl13]

My mom found a homeschoolers' science  fair and I want to sign up. I want to have an experiment involving mantids as my display. Does anyone have a good idea for a science fair experiment involving mantids? This will be my first time at a science fair so I have no ideas on setup or anything. Thanks!

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

Okay one sec... @MantisGirl13

You're breeding, raising, sourcing, and selling mantids. You're keeping your own feeder populations, and advising folk on here like a pro.

You're 13.

In my opinion, you've already won!

 

[hysteresis]

But yeah, maybe categorize behaviours.

Compare behaviours among your diff species.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Okay one sec... @MantisGirl13

You're breeding, raising, sourcing, and selling mantids. You're keeping your own feeder populations, and advising folk on here like a pro.

You're 13.

In my opinion, you've already won!

Lol  

I know, it doesn't seem to be something I should need help on, but I have no ideas for an experiment to show! I wish it could just be a display but it needs to be a carefully conducted experiment. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

But yeah, maybe categorize behaviours.

Compare behaviours among your diff species.

Ok, interesting idea. How should I put it into experiment form? (hypothesis, control group, subject group, etc.)

- MantisGirl14

 

[hysteresis]

Well, if there's some behaviours you've observed, you can hypothesize some behaviours carry across species and others don't. 

You could observe, tabulate, and present.

Maybe it's a poor idea though. There's lots of random stuff that would probably affect the observations and data.

Maybe I'm stumped too.

 

[hysteresis]

Effect of time (of day) on predatory compulsion.

When are they more aggressive in their predation. 

Oh. Do they expect you to physically perform an experiment there and then?

Or is it enough to present your methods and findings with a display? 

 

[Ziiggy's Insectarium]

you could do a quick set up for if they actually know what colors they are and if they choose to ""blend in" on say some construction paper that is the same color as them or if theyre just silly killer insects

 

[MantisGirl13]

you could do a quick set up for if they actually know what colors they are and if they choose to ""blend in" on say some construction paper that is the same color as them or if theyre just silly killer insects

Interesting idea. I will consider it. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

Effect of time (of day) on predatory compulsion.

When are they more aggressive in their predation. 

Oh. Do they expect you to physically perform an experiment there and then?

Or is it enough to present your methods and findings with a display? 

I don't have to do the experiment there, I just have to summarize the experiment and show the materials used and such.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Cole 78]

This is a really cool idea! A few ideas I have.

• Do different times in the day affect feeding habits?
  
• https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090911161421AAUgdlW
  
• Do mantids prefer different colors for perching?
  
• Does heat affect hunting abilities?
  

Im not taking credit for a couple of those ideas because other people said them, I am just re-phrasing.

 

[MantisGirl13]

This is a really cool idea! A few ideas I have.

• Do different times in the day affect feeding habits?
  
• https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090911161421AAUgdlW
  
• Do mantids prefer different colors for perching?
  
• Does heat affect hunting abilities?
  

Im not taking credit for a couple of those ideas because other people said them, I am just re-phrasing.

Thanks! 

- MantisGirl13

 

[gare58]

Depending on how much time you have you could design an experiment around testing the intelligence of mantids.  Do you hand feed yours at all?  If you do then you can use food as a reward system and perhaps test if mantids can count.  Apparently honeybees can count 0-4.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05354-z

Or even if mantids could learn to associate a certain stimulus to food.  Probably something visual like a flash card with a shape on it.  The point would be to see if the mantis crawls to/chooses the shape that has a food reward if it goes near it.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Depending on how much time you have you could design an experiment around testing the intelligence of mantids.  Do you hand feed yours at all?  If you do then you can use food as a reward system and perhaps test if mantids can count.  Apparently honeybees can count 0-4.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05354-z

Or even if mantids could learn to associate a certain stimulus to food.  Probably something visual like a flash card with a shape on it.  The point would be to see if the mantis crawls to/chooses the shape that has a food reward if it goes near it.

Now that is a really cool idea! I have a month or two to work on the experiment, so that may work!

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

That is a great idea, @gare58.

It seemed to me the mantids we kept this fall would beg with their raptors when I'd lift the lid for feeding. 

Pavlov should've kept mantids. 

 

[gare58]

@hysteresis Animal psychology was one of my favorite classes when I was an undergrad.  

I think mantids have some degree of learning where to get food.  In the wild they may return to the same place to hunt if the hunting is good there.  That's why a good experiment might be to test if this is strongly dependant on visual cues.  If they can map their surroundings.

@MantisGirl13 if you need any help designing the experiment or using the scientific method feel free to ask here.  You seem to have enough experience with your mantids that you could control a lot of aspects of the experiment.

 

[MantisGirl13]

@MantisGirl13 if you need any help designing the experiment or using the scientific method feel free to ask here.  You seem to have enough experience with your mantids that you could control a lot of aspects of the experiment

Of course I will post if I have questions or success! 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Graceface]

Or even if mantids could learn to associate a certain stimulus to food.  Probably something visual like a flash card with a shape on it.  The point would be to see if the mantis crawls to/chooses the shape that has a food reward if it goes near it.

This is a cool idea! 

I feel that mantis do have this ability to respond to stimulus to food. I am typically the one who feeds our mantises, and I've noticed they don't seem to be interested in my husband as much as me. He frequently gets denied when he tries to pick them up, yet they will reach up for me and visually perk up when I approach. I think they associate my face with food, as I usually handle them and clean their enclosures before I feed. 

It would be cool to see the results of this experiment!

 

[gare58]

If you can teach a mantis to respond to flash cards for food then you can incorporate things like showing different amounts on the flash cards and train them to choose the higher amount to see if they can count such as in the bee experiment.  If all goes as planned they'll be doing your algebra homework before you know it.