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by Anonymous on September 17th, 2009

Anonymous

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After mating, the female PM bites the head off of the male PM and eats him. Why? The bitch doesn't like sex? She didn't get satisfied? She found out he was cheating on her? What's the reason for such behavior?

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Answers. 20 helpful answers below.

  • by - alluseek - on September 17th, 2009

    - alluseek -

    while they are mating, the female praying mantis (sometimes) eats the males head so that the protein from the male body helps the eggs develop.

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  • by LeopoldClanner on September 17th, 2009

    LeopoldClanner

    When I first read the question, I thought PM was short for Prime Minister. This does however sound like a politician, as soon as they are done using you, they'll rip your head off!

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  • by Spacys back on September 17th, 2009

    Spacys back

    clever wench she be!!! now she doesn`t have to live with a fat slobish couch potato,that farts at random and scratches his bum in public +5

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  • by Ironhead on September 17th, 2009

    Ironhead

    She was never taught the right way to eat her mate out..

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  • by Who Is She on September 17th, 2009

    Who Is She

    Same reason some female arachnids eat their mate after copulation; it provides them with easy nourishment while their body's reproductive systems go about producing offspring from the mating.

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  • by schmee2369 on September 17th, 2009

    schmee2369

    lmao....

    I think they get nutrience, and a snack while the body keeps doing them until its done...

    I suppose if it was legal alot of women would do this also...

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  • by The Chief on September 17th, 2009

    The Chief

    There are two reasons that I remember reading about years ago:

    The part of the nervous system in the male Praying Mantis which controls mating does not reside primarily in the head: it resides in the body of the male mantis.

    So, when the male loses his head to the female, the body continues to mate until completed. Afterwards, the female will finish off the rest of the male for dinner.

    The nurishment provided by the male sustains the female through the egg production and laying period, ensuring propagation of the young.

    I would imagine this is primarily an evolutionary thing driven by the instinct to capture and consume prey...the male still exhibits behavior which "looks" like prey...so the female eats him.

    Evolution therefore resulted in the development of the male nervous system which could continue mating even after being beheaded.

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  • by ZiggyStardust on September 17th, 2009

    ZiggyStardust

    It's for protein or nutrients or something... For a healthy pregnancy. Maybe he was just a let-down so she fatalitized him?

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  • by Suby the Coat on September 17th, 2009

    Suby the Coat

    I thought only the widow spiders did that.
    There the male spiders are capable of mating only once during their lifetime and as the males can't contribute anymore to the survival of the species the females thinks the male could serve his role better by being her food.
    Same could be the case in the case of PM too.

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  • by Girl4Nowhere on September 19th, 2009

    Girl4Nowhere

    He got too fat and ugly, she couldn't stand that lazy fatass!

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  • by iwnit on September 18th, 2009

    iwnit

    "Sexual cannibalism is common among mantises in captivity, and under some circumstances may also be observed in the field. The female may start feeding by biting off the male’s head (as with any prey), and if mating had begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperms. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male’s head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilisation while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behaviour appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behaviour in the field is natural, or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer, remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual creatures, and notice any disturbance occurring in the laboratory or field such as bright lights or moving scientists. Research by Liske and Davis (1987) and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum (so were not starving) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.

    The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated, with some considering submissive males to be achieving a selective advantage in their ability to produce offspring. This theory is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males who are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is further supported in a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males actively avoiding cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The act of dismounting is one of the most dangerous times for males during copulation, for it is at this time that females most frequently cannibalize their mates. This increase in mounting duration was thought to indicate that males would be more prone to wait for an opportune time to dismount from a hungry female rather than from a satiated female that would be less likely to cannibalize her mate. Some consider this to be an indication that male submissiveness does not inherently increase male reproductive success, rather that more fit males are likely to approach a female with caution and escape."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis#Reproduction_and_life_history

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  • by BaileysMom12 COAT of Motherly Love on September 17th, 2009

    BaileysMom12 COAT of Motherly Love

    The male can't mate until his head is bitten off. They take masochism to the extreme.

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  • by Naia the Bee on September 17th, 2009

    Naia the Bee

    He wasn't good enough for her... plain and simple...

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  • by Bob on September 17th, 2009

    Bob

    since she won't need him any more for going out and getting a job and keeping it to provide for her and the children, she doesn't need him anymore. So, what behavior has been reinforced by generations of PM reproduction? turning around and eating him. he's quite nutritious, you know!!!

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  • by OmegaWolf747 on September 17th, 2009

    OmegaWolf747

    Praying mantises having the right idea of how to deal with their males.

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  • by dancer on September 17th, 2009

    dancer

    See what happens when he can't control his urges? +5

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  • by azlotto on September 17th, 2009

    azlotto

    Maybe the PM had PMS.

    +5

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  • by Im Alec has abandoned this account on September 17th, 2009

    Im Alec has abandoned this account

    Firstly, this is behaviour mostly seen in captivity and appears not to occur with any frequency in the wild. It is aberrant behaviour caused by being captive.

    Secondly, insect brains are very simple and more like machines than humans. The mantis is a killing machine, programmed to attack and eat other insects. It takes a very special sequence of movements by the male to disarm the "kill and eat" reflex of the female in order to get close and mate. If anything goes wrong with that sequence (as happens more easily in captivity than in the wild) she ceases to see him as a mate and he reverts to being food - so she does the natural thing.

    Think if it as a secret temple in an Indiana Jones movie, full of traps to kill the intruder. The priest has to do exactly the right thing in order to bypass each of the traps and get into his own temple. If he makes a mistake, the temple will kill its own minder. The male mantis is the priest and the female the temple - if he doesn't do it just right he dies. Without any animosity - he has just been re-categorised from mate to meat.

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  • by Don Gorgeous George on September 20th, 2009

    Don Gorgeous George

    I remember the last girl I slept with, she tried to bite my head off during orgasm. After donkey punching her, I asked her why she tried to bite my head off and she said that wanted to impregnate herself without my consent.

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  • by Phantom Answers on September 20th, 2009

    Phantom Answers

    Maybe she was just hungry... I just hope it never happens to me! :/ Lol...I found the one in this picture sitting on my car waiting to ambush me:/

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