They say the praying mantis got its name from the way it holds its front pair of legs, like hands folded in prayer.
Mantis is a regular resident of gardens and courtyards, including our one on Biševo. The females are this large and violently green. This particular lady was sunbathing on the terrace, so I arranged a little photo shoot. She did not object; in fact, she posed. However close I came, she merely turned her head in profile to look even more ravishing.
She is one of those insects with a “weightless effect”: those fragile little legs hold her entire body on a vertical surface. Do the tips somehow hook into the texture? How can she stand like that? Let it remain her secret. Mystery suits her.
We studied her for a while and went on our way. Later, Nikola tied his tongue in knots trying to repeat the name of the creature we had met on the terrace…
