What can a praying mantis do that most insects cannot?

Turn its head about 180 degrees

Why is it called a praying mantis?

Its folded front legs look like praying

What do mantises eat?

Live insects and other small animals

Where is a mantis's single ear?

On its underside between its legs

Praying Mantises Quiz: 10 Questions That Test What You Know

A praying mantis can swivel its head to look over its shoulder and snatch a fly in a fraction of a second, and this praying mantises quiz explores how. Meet orchid mantises that pose as flowers in Malaysia and the mantis that inspired a kung fu style in China.

Start Praying Mantises Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Head
What can a praying mantis do that most insects cannot?
Legs
What are the mantis's front legs adapted for?
Name
Why is it called a praying mantis?
Orchid
Which mantis looks like a flower?
Diet
What do mantises eat?
3D
What did scientists test using tiny 3D glasses on mantises?
Eggs
What is a mantis egg case called?
Kung fu
Which country developed a mantis-style martial art?
Mate
What sometimes happens to male mantises after mating?
Ear
Where is a mantis's single ear?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What can a praying mantis do that most insects cannot?
Answer: Turn its head about 180 degrees
This helps it watch prey.
Q2: What are the mantis's front legs adapted for?
Answer: Grabbing prey
They have sharp spines.
Q3: Why is it called a praying mantis?
Answer: Its folded front legs look like praying
Mantis comes from Greek for prophet.
Q4: Which mantis looks like a flower?
Answer: Orchid mantis
Insects visiting the flower get eaten.
Q5: What do mantises eat?
Answer: Live insects and other small animals
Large ones can catch small birds.
Q6: What did scientists test using tiny 3D glasses on mantises?
Answer: Their 3D vision
They were the first insects shown to have stereo vision.
Q7: What is a mantis egg case called?
Answer: Ootheca
It can hold hundreds of eggs.
Q8: Which country developed a mantis-style martial art?
Answer: China
Its moves imitate mantis strikes.
Q9: What sometimes happens to male mantises after mating?
Answer: The female eats them
It happens less often in the wild.
Q10: Where is a mantis's single ear?
Answer: On its underside between its legs
It helps detect bat calls.

Praying Mantises Quiz – Patient Ambush Hunters

Praying mantises are predatory insects with long bodies and spiny front legs folded as if in prayer. There are over 2,400 species, mostly in tropical and warm regions, ranging from tiny species to some over 15 centimeters long.

Mantises are ambush hunters. They wait motionless, often camouflaged as leaves, twigs or flowers, then strike in a fraction of a second. They are the only insects shown to have 3D vision, and they can turn their heads to watch prey.

Gardeners sometimes welcome mantises because they eat pest insects, though they also eat helpful ones. Mantises have inspired art and martial arts in China, and their egg cases are a familiar sight in autumn gardens.

What This Quiz Teaches

Nature fans and curious students will enjoy these questions.

How mantises hunt
How their legs work
Which mantis mimics flowers
How mantises see
What an ootheca is

Did You Know?

Mantises molt several times to grow.
Some mantises glow under UV light.
Ghost mantises look like dead leaves.
Mantises are related to cockroaches.
Mantises clean themselves like cats.