If insects were just a little bigger, they would be the scariest things ever to walk on the face of the earth.

Scarrier than lions, tigers and bears, scarier than dinosaurs, scarier than humans, heck, scarier than any of the monsters humans have ever imagined.

If mosquitoes were the size of eagles, they would be like real-life vampires.

If ants or bees were as big as dogs, we would probably start a war with them.

If preying mantises were as large as horses, well, I'm not sure I would be the bee kind to animals guy. I'd probably

want those beasts exterminated. Lucky for us, mantises are smaller than that, but to the smaller

inhabitants of our earth, they are the boogeyman we can only dream them to be.

Today we are going to talk about one of, if not the, largest mantises out there,

an animal who is a monster, not just for other insects, but for birds too.

This creature rips hummingbirds out of the sky and eats their brains.

They eat each other's brains, too, folks. This one might be a good one for younger listeners to sit out on.

But for those of you who want to have trouble sleeping tonight, get ready to learn about the Chinese mantis.

Tenodera, Senensis.

I'm Mackin. This is Species.

Hey, welcome to the show.

Today's episode, as I already implied, is going to be more or less PG-13.

I'll give warnings for reproduction, but it is going to get a little rough, so keep the fast forward

button nearby, if you're apparent.

Oh, and by the way, at the end of the show, during the outro, I am going to talk a little

bit about some controversy regarding the last show.

So, keep an air out for that if you're interesting.

Subscribe wherever you can, send the show to someone who likes animals, find the show on Facebook and Twitter, both at Species Podcast.

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