{"id":2192238,"date":"2026-09-20T14:46:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/?p=2192238"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:27:29","slug":"its-fate-is-sealed-by-a-clinical-decapitation-watch-this-praying-mantis-meet-a-cruel-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/its-fate-is-sealed-by-a-clinical-decapitation-watch-this-praying-mantis-meet-a-cruel-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Its fate is \u201csealed by a clinical decapitation\u201d \u2013 watch this praying mantis meet a cruel end"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this clip from the BBC\u2019s\u00a0<em>Swarm: Nature\u2019s Incredible Invasions<\/em>, narrated by David Tennant, a\u00a0praying mantis\u00a0meets a cruel end when it gets caught up in an\u00a0ant\u00a0swarm.<\/p>\n<p>A colony of ants is not an opponent you want to mess with \u2013 especially when it\u2019s on a mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn defence of the trail, the ants take no prisoners \u2013 but even an innocuous-looking insect can be surprisingly dangerous,\u201d narrates Tennant.<\/p>\n<p>The first enemy the ants face is a soil millipede \u2013 it\u2019s killed quickly, and the soldier ants\u2019 highly sensitive antennae determine that it\u2019s poisonous. This is swiftly communicated to the rest of the colony, and the ants gather lumps of mud to bury the problem.<\/p>\n<p>But more danger awaits. A praying mantis, a deadly predator, manages to pluck unsuspecting ants from the colony to enjoy them as its next meal. But even faced with a worthy opponent like the praying mantis, the ants know what to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ants he kills send out a dying message. Reacting to this pheromone, reinforcements arrive,\u201d says Tennant.<\/p>\n<p>One soldier grabs the mantis\u2019 jaws, and the rest swarm over the predator, killing it with morbidly surgical precision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mantis\u2019 fate is sealed by a clinical decapitation,\u201d concludes Tennant.<\/p>\n<p>The ants can go on, carrying their eggs and pupae into the new nest, a superstructure made up of millions of interlocking ants creating an impenetrable barrier.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"381996370\" title=\"Praying Mantis Decapitated by Ant Swarm | Superswarm | BBC Earth\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-oJRkymiC-0?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discoverwildlife.com\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-129157385_7=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-18=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-25=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-32=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-39=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-46=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Top image: Close-up of a green praying mantis on a leaf. Credit: Molakaliva\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"premium-protection-zone\"><\/p>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/on-the-bbc\/praying-mantis-ants-video\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> by Magda Patynska was first published by Discover Wildlife on 10 September 2026.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>    <div id=\"premium-article-bottom-card\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff !important; border: none !important; border-radius: 8px !important; margin: 30px auto !important; max-width: 850px !important; width: 100% !important; box-shadow: 0 4px 16px rgba(0,0,0,0.06) !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; overflow: hidden !important; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important;\">\n\n        <!-- FLEX CONTAINER: SIDE-BY-SIDE ON DESKTOP\/TABLET, STACKS ON MOBILE -->\n        <div style=\"display: flex !important; flex-wrap: wrap !important; align-items: stretch !important;\">\n\n            <!-- LEFT COLUMN: AD DISTRACTION GRAPHIC -->\n            <div style=\"flex: 1 1 340px !important; 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A colony of ants is not an opponent you want to mess with \u2013 especially when it\u2019s on a mission. \u201cIn defence of the trail, the ants take no prisoners [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":2192239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d2rj6cu2ik1biv.cloudfront.net\/193c804a-a673-47bd-b09b-11baf4822a17\/9ac494a4-627d-4fea-a827-dcf588dd6f96\/76991d3f-8f39-4cfc-b8dc-d733d50c2360\/thumbnails\/e792afa8-6d43-4ea0-bea9-442d91441ca9.jpg?appId=f347d34d-c1a6-4a00-b570-b78c2dcb3211&platform=WEB&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}