So I found a praying mantis egg case and doing all the
research on it made me think of praying mantis reproduction. The female eats
the male while they’re mating. I thought this was kind of interesting so I
decided to do a little more research into this praying mantis style
(scandalous). This is called sexual cannibalism,
which is when the female eats her mate before, during, or after mating. This
act is most commonly practiced by some arachnid and insect families. Scientists
don’t exactly know why this occurs but they have a few hypotheses. Some believe
that a hungry female will find a less than suitable mate, court with him, and
pretty much trick him so she can eat him because she finds him more suitable as
a meal than as a partner. Another hypothesis is male monogamy. He sacrifices
himself to the female to be eaten in order to ensure reproductive success and
can never mate with another female ever again because he’s dead. It’s kind of
sweet in a sick and twisted way. Some males are smart and sneaky. They distract
the female with gifts of food before mating with her or go ahead and mate while
she is distracted. Some males exhibit a behavior called mate binding in which
the male “massages” the female by depositing silk onto her abdomen to calm her
down. These males may seem dumb to us but sacrificing themselves is kind of
smart. If the female eats the male during mating, his parts are most likely
going to be stuck in her parts. This makes it harder for her to mate again.
Also, she is well fed so the male’s genetics are ensured to the babies and his
work is done. Sexual cannibalism is
weird and kind of awful, but it’s pretty interesting.
funny take
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