# How rare are praying mantids?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-are-praying-mantids/372548>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 13, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-are-praying-mantids/372548 "2006-09-13T14:53:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-are-praying-mantids/372548/41 "2006-10-11T14:46:08Z")

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Anecdotes ? data, but one spring evening I saw a PM perched on a switch box on the train platform at 125th Street, Harlem, Noo Yawk City. Probably an escaped exotic pet (New Yorkers are known to keep _anything_ in an apartment, up to and including 400 lb tigers).

Anyway, I was so entranced by the sheer size and elegant beauty of the big green bug and its ability to not hardly move a hair that I stared it down happily for five minutes. And missed my train.

Yes, I’d had a bit to drink.

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