Mostly hummingbirds, based on the
documented cases.
Nature is beautiful, but it can
be kind of messed up.
As an illustration, we’ll refer
you to a press release this week from Switzerland’s University of Basel, titled
“Praying Mantises Hunt Down Birds Worldwide.” Carnivorous
mantises feed most frequently on insects or spiders, but zoologists from
Switzerland and the United States have published
research indicating that mantises also kill and devour small birds on all
the continents except Antarctica.
For those unaware that praying
mantises eat small birds, this news is surely alarming. But honestly, the title
of the press release doesn’t convey the true horror of the situation.
Newsweek did some additional reporting, interviewing two
scientists (unaffiliated with the research) who told them about the method
mantises typically employ in their avian consumption.
The mantises usually “pierce the
skull to feed on brain tissue,” said biologist William Brown of the State
University of New York at Fredonia.
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