Male Mantises Evolved a Vital Trick to Avoid Being Decapitated After Sex – ScienceAlert

A male Springbok praying mantis looking for a hook-up doesn’t have to worry about a female stealing his heart away.
There is, however, a very good change she’ll bite his head off, and he knows it.
Indeed, 60 percent of sexual encounters between Springboks  one of nearly 2,000 mantis species across the globe  end in males being eaten as a snack.
“Males play Russian roulette whenever they encounter cannibalistic females,” explained Nathan Burke, an entomologist at the University of Auckland and an…

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