Biologists have not come to a complete conclusion about why female mantis eats male mantis. Biologists usually think that the male mantis is nutritious and can better ensure the female mantis to reproduce, but the female mantis consumes amazing physical strength in the process of reproducing, which is exactly what it needs. Some biologists have found that the female mantis will not eat the male mantis when she is full, so it is speculated that the female mantis may only kill because she is hungry.
As Nathan Burke, an entomologist at the University of Auckland, said, every time a male mantis meets a vicious female mantis, it is gambling. Because of this, every time he approaches the female mantis, the male mantis is treading on thin ice and on the verge of the abyss. After all, whether he can see the sun tomorrow depends on his luck.
Here, we want to explain some misunderstandings: not all female mantis will eat male mantis, and not only mantis will eat its spouse during mating. For example, the well-known black widow spider also has the phenomenon that females eat males during mating, which is why the black widow spider is named. In addition, some scorpions also have this habit. Then the question comes: does the male mantis know that he will be eaten?
The answer is yes, otherwise they wouldn't be walking on thin ice. This means that the male mantis is unwilling to be eaten. This meaning is very important, which means that the male mantis knows that he may be killed, so he will try his best to save his life during mating, lest the child be born without a father.
First of all, it is a natural choice to retreat quickly after mating, but this success rate is difficult to guarantee, because the female mantis may have caused harm to the male mantis during mating. Mantis is different from human nervous system. When the upper body is injured, the activities of the lower body will be more intense. Therefore, it is particularly important for the male mantis to get ready from the beginning.
A paper published in Biology Newsletter on Wednesday local time pointed out: Most male mantis will choose sneak attack, quietly approach female mantis, and complete the important work in this life; There are also some male mantises who choose to bring some delicious food to the female mantis, so that they have no time to take care of it; There are even some smaller males who simply show off their acting skills and play dead after mating, and finally the two sides give birth to a new life in harmony.
Burke and his colleague Gregory Holwell are also very familiar with the mating process of mantis. After in-depth observation and research on the springbok mantis, they found a new way to escape harm, which is quite surprising.
The springbok mantis, also known as Miomantis caffra, originated in southern Africa and was probably introduced to New Zealand, Europe and the United States through the pet trade.
According to statistics, 60% of mating activities of springbok mantis ended in the tragic death of male mantis in the mouth of female companion. For these poor male mantis, it is urgent to develop a means of escape. Burke and Hallwell found that they did take a way to protect themselves that had never been discovered before, that is, violent repression.
Burke said: "under the threat of being eaten by the same kind, the male tried to subdue the female through violent repression ... I was very surprised to see the male mantis subdue the female mantis for mating, even at the expense of hurting each other." No one has ever observed such a situation on mantis before. "
After observing the battle between 52 pairs of mantis spouses, they found that the victory or defeat of the battle between the two sides depends largely on our old saying: the first Mover is the strongest.
If the male mantis moves fast enough, first control the female mantis with his sickle-like forelimbs, and they have a 78% chance to break away from this relationship and avoid being eaten. On the other hand, if the female mantis takes the initiative to attack, then the male mantis basically has no chance to escape.
Moreover, in such a struggle, even if injured, the male wound usually appears in the stomach, rather than being torn off by the female. So, even with a little injury, at least you can save your life. Moreover, in this battle lasting 13 seconds, males usually have more time to gain the upper hand, which is crucial for their survival.
Of course, as Burke said, this kind of fighting is a life-saving skill, but it is also a challenge to our relationship. In other words, this struggle is "both a mating strategy and a survival strategy". Specifically, such a struggle leads to a decline in mating success rate, even if the male wins the battle.
According to statistics, the mating success rate of a pair of struggling springbok mantis is only about 2/3. Even so, the male mantis has almost a half chance to end this mating and his own life with the delicious food in the mother's stomach. Even more embarrassing, it's still behind.
The female springbok mantis has a killer weapon to deal with the male mantis who thinks he can "Bai Piao", and that is asexual reproduction. In other words, even without male mantis, female mantis can't use sex cells at all, but "copy herself".
The female mantis gave the male mantis a fatal multiple-choice question: love or death. Then the question comes: since the female mantis can choose to abandon the male mantis for asexual reproduction (obviously all female mantis are born in this way) and eat the male mantis in sexual reproduction, why are there so many male mantis in nature? In fact, this is also a question that biologists have been very curious about. As Burke said, "This is why I am so fascinated by the mating strategy of male mantis."
Theoretically speaking, the male mantis must have evolved a set of reasonable countermeasures to ensure that he will not become extinct. One way is to breed offspring in a harmonious way. This discovery is one of the means to avoid being eaten. Other mantis should have other means, waiting for biologists to find out.
In any case, mantis and other arthropods have such cannibalism, which is also the result of long-term evolution. I believe there are some benefits in it. But it can be seen that the male mantis seems to have the voice of "male and female" equality. Perhaps, with the evolution of new mating strategies, they may be able to change their fate.