Nowadays, it seems like anyone can have any kind of pet that fits their heart’s desires, even if it is happiest and belongs ...

In 2013, Australian biologists (including Marie Herberstein, who has done lots of cool work on animal liars) confirmed that the orchid mantis really does mimic flowers to attract prey, and it’s ...

I hadn’t intended on meeting this orchid mantis either. When I came back to Dublin recently to stay with a couple of old friends, one of them had this unusual pet in an enclosure in the dining room.

For decades, humans believed the orchid mantis was hiding within the petals of these orchids, fleeing from the many dangers lurking on the forest floor in Malaysia. But a new exhibition at the ...

But the reality is no less weird or fascinating. He had seen—and been fooled by—an orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, which is not a plant but an insect. We have known about orchid mantises ...

The aptly-named orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) is actually the only insect known to imitate a plant as an offensive mechanism instead of a defensive one. Stick bugs and the like blend into ...

Pretty tricky A praying mantis that disguises itself as an orchid to catch prey has been shown to be more attractive to pollinators than real flowers, a new study shows. The findings are published ...