These ¼-inch long baby mantis nymphs in the video (left) are already displaying anti-predator adaptions by swaying. We often call them “babies” but praying mantises are completely self-sufficient and do not require parents except in a few rare instances. Turtle “babies” or hatchlings do not require parents: ever! Watch left in the video for one of these tiny mantis nymphs running along the top of Spike’s tub! Unlike turtles, who hatch individually from eggs, baby praying mantises hatch all at once from one egg sac or ootheca. Also unlike turtles, praying mantises (depending on the species) only live from 4 weeks to 6 months, while Jonathan, the oldest living turtle on earth to date, recently turned 188 years old! We got to see Harriet the tortoise a year before she died in Australia at 176 years old!! And even our local box turtles can live to be over 100 years old.
Finally, adding to our marsh baby sightings were LOTS of baby clapper rails out on the salt marsh while kayaking last weekend. Thanks for reading about all these marsh babies!
