Camouflage is no longer a strange concept. Many animals and insects have created their own. A special cover to avoid predators is the same for orchid mantises, even though they have their own unique features unlike other species.
Biologist James O’Hanlon at the University of Sydney Australia said: “Most people are afraid of insects. I have to admit that I am also afraid of insects, but the orchid mantis is different. They have a body like wings.” Orchids with a combination of many colors such as: white, purple, pink… make them more attractive and attractive.
Scientists previously said that the ability of the orchid mantis to change its body appearance according to flower color dates back to the 1800s. According to evolutionary biologist – O’Hanlon said: “That is just a subjective opinion, no one has conducted any experiments to verify whether that opinion is correct.”
O’Hanlon realized that the theoretical research proposed earlier had Whether it is true or not is a necessary task, so he and a group of colleagues went to Malaysia to study this orchid mantis more closely.
“It has now been more than a century that we have published many books and scientific research articles all showing that mantises have the ability to The ability to imitate the colors of flowers is real” O’Hanlon added.
Practices Currently, the praying mantis research project is not an easy task. O’Hanlon and his team initially still do not understand this insect well. They first tested the mantis’s color using wavelengths of light visible to flying pollinators. The results showed that 13 types of pollinating insects could not recognize the orchid mantis.
Next, the scientists observed how pollinating insects responded to the orchid mantis. They witnessed more than 12 types of insects that could not recognize the orchid mantis when they approached, and most of these insects were caught by the mantis before recognition.
From the above characteristics, researchers concluded that the theory built many centuries ago is absolutely correct. “We now understand that orchid mantises are not only capable of deceiving pollinators, but they are also very good at catching their prey” O’Hanlon adds.
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Scientists also confirm; The orchid mantis is the only species in the world that disguises itself as a flower to attract prey. According to O’Hanlon shares: “There are many other animals known for their ability to camouflage among flowers and ambush prey, but they are not really attraction of prey like the orchid mantis.”
Continued progress According to his research campaign O’Hanlon and his team plan to explain how other carnivores detect maple mantises orchid. “Orchid mantises can completely avoid other predators such as birds or lizards because they can disguise themselves as flowers rather than as a food source” O’Hanlon said.
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