Luckily, not much can harm this creature. Bats, birds, frogs and spiders are common mantis predators, but there are enough mantises in the world that they are not endangered. Instead, the mantis often harms other, smaller insects. When Jonny first arrived in my bedroom, I called my friend to ask her what I should do about it.
“Julian,” she said, “praying mantises are good luck in Thai culture. The word 'mantis' means 'prophet' in Greek.”
So, once I learned that neither Jonny nor I would be harmed if I picked him up, I let him crawl up and down my arms for a while. I was still a bit scared, but I definitely trusted Jonny. Eventually, Jonny paused on my hand and looked up at my face. I started to think that Jonny was actually pretty cute.
Although the praying mantis is fortunately not endangered, Asian elephants native to Thailand are. Ivory comes from both African and Asian elephant tusks, which are often carved down into small ornaments and jewelry and sold at a high price. In order to collect ivory, poachers, or collectors, kill the elephant, and due to high ivory demand, hundreds of elephants are killed for their tusks each year. While we don’t have to worry about praying mantises like Jonny (who I put back outside), we should definitely pay attention to the endangered Asian elephant.
