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Third Place
Mark W. Moffett National Geographic Magazine
"Mantids: Armed and Dangerous"
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"The Crafty Hunter"
Like other praying mantids, this Cameroon species relies on
stealth. With sharp vision, a mantid determines the size and distance to its
prey before deciding whether the hunt is worthwhile.
My goal was to take an everyday subject that most
people think they know well, and show the unexpected. Preying mantids range
around the world outside antartica, and they were photographed in several
countries for this article. Among biologists they are most legendary for
their crypsis -- the ability to blend with their environment. This became a
focus of the images. While I show they are fierce, calculating predators
capable of killing prey larger than themselves, the story that females eat
males during copulation is largely a fiction (though captive females may do
this when stressed). All images uncropped from transparency film.
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