The mantis slowly turns it’s head to focus on its prey.
It’s senses have been alerted by the ten thousand sensors in those ancient eyes.
Now it has only one thought, to keep its victim centred in its vision.
The middle of these eyes now act like the cross hairs of a snipers rifle and it begins to move closer.
The motion is not cat-like; rather it sways and rocks, mimicking the grasses blowing in the wind.
There is a deadly intent to this insectivorous rhumba.
Soon those praying raptorial forearms will rise in readiness for the lightening strike that will signal the end of one life and the continuance of another.
This is the cycle of life here within the ecology.
It is not brutal nor sad, it is simply the exchange of energies within the great hoop itself.
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Photo: Praying Mantis at Saladaviciosa. Courtesy of the author.