Watch Praying Mantis Feast on Bird in Horrifying Video: 'Brutal to Watch'

A seemingly innocent praying mantis has been caught on camera munching down an unexpectedly large prey: a hummingbird. The video, which shows the mantis hanging upside down from a tree branch, holding the bird in its front two legs and taking bites from its head, was captured by Reddit user u/SNAKES_ON_A_PLATE in the person's yard in August 2022. "The mantis seems to enjoy starting with the eyeballs of their prey - it's brutal to watch," commented one user on a post sharing the video. "Damn nature, you scary!" said another. There are around 2,400 species of mantis, and the name praying mantis is often used as a catchall for many of the species. The European mantis, which is also found throughout the U.S., is the species that most people associate with the name praying mantis. These are the largest species of mantis, growing to lengths of up to around 3.5 inches in the largest females and 2.7 inches in the longest males.

Most mantis species are ambush predators that sneak up on and attack unsuspecting prey. European mantises and other larger species are known to attack not only other insects but also their own species as well as vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, fish and birds. A 2017 paper in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology found 147 incidents of birds being attacked by mantises in 13 different countries on all continents, except Antarctica. Because hummingbirds are some of the smallest birds, they are often the target of hungry mantises. Mantis attacks on birds are often brutal, with the predators impaling the birds through their chests or feeding directly from their heads, according to National Geographic. Some victims have even been found scalped, decapitated or de-feathered. "Hummingbirds are tiny, 5 or 6 grams—less than a nickel," Kevin McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, told National Geographic. This means that because of their similar size they are the type of bird a mantis can easily capture. Other bird targets of mantises are warblers, sunbirds, honeyeaters, flycatchers, vireos and European robins. While most birds try to escape, very few are successful. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology paper said that only 2 percent of the birds managed to escape without human aid.

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Mantises don't restrict their merciless killing to cute birds, though, and frequently practice a macabre dietary habit known as sexual cannibalism. Around 25 to 30 percent of the time, a female mantis will kill and eat the male after or during sex. The reason for this behavior is not yet fully understood, though some theories say that the male may provide her with nutrients to improve the offspring's chances of survival. The poor hummingbird in the video thus met an ugly but not unusual fate and exemplifies a brutal truth about nature. People who attract hummingbirds using hummingbird feeders are advised to place the feeders out in the open. This reduces the places where praying mantises can lurk and ambush the birds, and it allows the birds to get a clear view of any predators. Do you have an animal or nature story to share with Newsweek? Do you have a question about mantises? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.