I know, I know. I’ve done mantid photos on Well-Nigh Wordless Wednesday already, but I can’t help myself. Mantids are super fun to interact with and they’re gorgeous, so I take a lot of photos when I see them. I mean, come on. Who can resist that face?:
Mantid near my front porch light at night
Obviously not me!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
I remember my first mantis. It was a beautiful creature, colored gray and brown like a lichen-covered tree. Perfect camouflage, except that it was sitting on the solid green wall of our house where it stood out like a sore thumb.
I knew, right then and there, that if any insect was going to evolve intelligence and the ability to build tools, it would be mantises. They already have the hands for it!