YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!
Fantastic shot, Spluch! and fantastic-er find, J to the S.!
// And as Spluch notes, original photo is here on Flickr, shot by Lawraa //
// and and AND, check out Rissu’s "Say Anything" version! //
Bring on Carnivale!!!
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{ 139 comments }
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Wow! A sneak preview of a character from “The Clone Wars”! Cooooooool!
Wow! Look at the colors on that guy! That’s an amazing shot!
I’ve never seen a bug look so HAPPY.
That is the best thing ever! I love how happy he looks!
This is such a fantasteek photo! Lof eet.
It’s a Dancing Mantis!
That is totally incredible. I want one. He can live in my house plants, he’ll like it there.
…you mean how happy she looks – you know what THAT means! His not so cute headless corpse has been shopped out of the shop.
That is such a cool picture!!
sorry, SHOT, not shop.
I love this!
She’s beautiful!
this is a FANTASTIC photo!!!
so cute and HAPPYYYYYYYYY!
“And the Lord did give us leaves! Green leaves! Praise the LORRRD!”
Haha! Amazing!
…and I am FAAAAAA-BULOUUUUUSSS!!!
She is beautiful truely beautiful.
Amazing Photo.
I didn’t even say “awww.” I gasped with joy.
JAZZ HANDS!!
Jazz whats?
Never seen a bug look so happy!
Qtest Buggle Evar!!!
WICKED!! Awesome pic!!
Totally shopped… >_>
SPIRIT-FINGERS!!
NOT CUTE!! NOT CUTE!!!
These are the only bugs I’m scared of. Snakes, spiders adorable. Mantises EVIL!!!!! That is not a happy dance, that’s a “I’m coming to eat you” dance!!
*ok. I’m calm now. Just don’t make me look at it again.
How did that person get that shot, BTW?
And… it’s good! Packers win the Superbowl!
I see your happy mantis and raise you a happy spider!
(Link in URL, arachnophobes beware!)
seconds after this photo was taken, the insect in the photo was squished by a soccer mom driving an SUV.
i think he just won the publisher’s clearinghouse sweepstakes
“Oh HI! Gives us a hug!”
lol
I’m staring at it trying to decide if I want to go “aw!” or “ew!” It’s really difficult….
I hope that it isn’t Photoshopped, cos I want to believes it looked like this for reals for some reason. It that–WINGS?! On a Mantis? Delightful news to me.
Blair PCH winner LOLOLOLOL
cool pic he or she would not be dancing here though its snowing !
AMAZING SHOT!!
Although I do think it might be a “I’m coming to eat you” dance or a “You are getting hypnotized” dance….
Cute ‘n’ creepy!
YUCK!!! I came here to get some comfort from working on my essay all day and the first thing I see is a BUG dancing because is going to attack????? this is ominous…
YUCK!!! I came here to get some comfort from working on my essay all day and the first thing I see is a BUG dancing because is going to attack????? this is ominous…
Martha in Washington: agreed! I’m not afraid of these guys and I don’t mind this picture, but the day I see a commom house centipede on here (smiling/dancing or not!) is the day cuteoverload.com leaves my bookmarks.
*phobia phobia phobia omg*.
I comiserate with your fear!
It *doesn’t* look Photoshopped… but I’ve never heard of a butterfly landing on a mantis’ back before…
Awesome shot! I’m so jealous, my camera and photo skillz could never get something so amazing.
Truly amazing shot, and the caption is PERFECT!!!!!
Can this mantis do a triple axel or a quad?
Shake, shake, shake, Senora, shake your body line
Shake, shake, shake, Senora, shake it all the time
Work, work, work, Senora, work your body line
Work, work, work, Senora, work it all the time!
Uh, the “butterfly on back” is really the mantis’s wings, the outer pair is green (protective) the under thin flight pair is colored. NOT photoshopped.
Wait – so do we finally learn if Jonesy lives? If Ben survives? And what of Sophie and Brother Justin?
Season three of Carnivale…bring it on!
Or have I misunderstood something?
How perfect. The previous entry (precious puppy nosicle sleepiness) is labeled “Bokeh”. Thinking it some other language term for “puppy”, I Googled it. Got this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
and this:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bokeh_/
So Dancing Mantis is also Bokeh!
Cool, eh?
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABULOUS!
Deja vu. But I love this photo enough that I don’t mind it being recycled.
“OLE!”
“GOOD MORNING, BAAAALTIMOOOORE!!!”
. . . this is what comes of having a shiny new copy of Hairspray. Is it my fault that James Marsden rocks my socks?
Yay! He’s either going to Srping Break with the ICHC LOLGator, or to Spring Training with his baseball fan cousin:
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/09/built-in-binocs.html#comments
It’s fun to stay at the YYYYYY-m-c-a!
I personally think that she is thanking me. Long, long ago I painted my parent’s garage and went out later to check it and noticed an itty bitty mantis with one back foot stuck to the paint and the other feet on the drive. I gently got a stick and lifted manty’s foot off the paint and put her on a nearby bush.
What a nice thank you.
Your welcome Manty
Eh-hem…according to Wikipedia:
“When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. “
This guy/girl is scared!
And I have to agree with the minority: not cute, but pretty cool!
Yaaaaayyy I’m so happy to be alive.
*cue car tire*
nifty picture
AMAZING! Looks like he/she”s saying TA-DA! Thanks for the Wikipedia info K. It’s a bummer that he’s scared. But what a shot!
RidBaxter, it’s funny you should sing that becasue I was just listening to the Beetlejuice soundtrack, and that one is a favourite. The house in the background is a bit like from Edward Scissorhands’ town. It all fits together rather well. Tim’s next stop-animation flick should be about gothic bugs!
Awesome picture. I’d have been too busy running away screaming to take the picture.
“Fierce hot mess!”
funny,
i first saw this picture months ago on ugly overload.
another great site.
It’s Manny from A Bug’s Life. He’s finally gotten a good acting job so he can quit the circus!
okay how in the world did someone capture this spunky green fella?! wow i wish i can step outside my door with my camera and animals would stop what they are doing and pose for me. (:
What else is there to say? This is the Oscar equivalent of photos! I’m speechless, a little grossed out and charmed altogether. Go Mantis Power!
Some Guy, I had the same dreadful, ironic thought. Too many cartoons as a child, I s’pose.
Martha in Washington: I’m not even particularly scared of mantises (don’t get me started on spiders though) and my reaction was less of a “Aw, cute!” and more of a “OMG it’s going to eat me. O.O”
Eek. (Although I’ll admit it’s quite good photography.)
Nice picture….
Aww! The poor thing is threat displaying!
And in the next shot, the cameraperson had their head bitten off by the threatened mantis. (They hunt by biting off the heads of their prey, as well as their mates if it’s female)
LOVE IT!
Insects are SO underrated.
Aubrey – I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought of THE Carnivale!
I’m sure Ben survives, but Sophie… what the heck?!!
BRING BACK CARNIVALE!!!!
Awesome Mantis btw.*
Awww, it’s sad that this lil’ dewd is scared. But it’s a brilliant shot (and I had NO idea mantises had those brilliant wings.)
Praying Mantis really are pretty wild looking. I especially love the ones that camo themselves to look like dead leaves and pretty flowers. It’s just amazing what they look like.
It’s fun to stay at the
YYYYYYYYYY M C A!
i’m sorry if the little dewd is scared, but this has made me laugh quite uncontrollably for the last half an hour…and the hover text just tipped me over into hysteria. Lof eet.
ick, bugs are not cute. aside from that it’s a pretty amazing photo.
Paulajeanne – I never knew they had wings other than the green ones. The ones I’ve seen in my garden (very rarely) didn’t usually even use their wings. It’s amazing to know that they have lovely butterfly-like colors on the second pair. But it’s sad to think that she feels so threatened she has to make herself look as big and scary as possible – even though, in human terms, she looks like she’s about to burst into a Carmen Miranda routine.
Come on lets crawl to the ugly bug ball.
TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
And now for my next trick….
Wow. Amazingks. Serious respect to the photographer.
*serious post* Please add a disclaimer to bug posts..there are some of us who have a true phobia to them. I actually started crying and shaking when I saw this.
Sorry. (Hope I’m not being a nuff….didn’t meant to)
Everybody have a great day!!
You know, there was a point about a year ago when I thought that every avenue of cute had been explored. It had been great, but there could be no more. I was wrong. So wrong. By the hour, day, month, I am still astounded, snorgled, and squeed.
Mantis: “Spring has arrived, and I’m so haaaappppyyyyyy!!”
Christian “Mantis” Siriano says “you’re all FIERCE!”
Actually, the females don’t bite off the heads of their mates; they eat them. During mating. Saw it on Animal Planet.
*The More You Know*
This terrifies me.
True story: When I was in 6th grade, I found a spongy-looking object in a bush and brought it in to class in a jar with holes punched in the lid. A kazillion baby mantises hatched a few nights later and climbed out the holes. We spent all morning doing catch and release. They were indescribably beautiful, perfect tiny miniatures in a transparent green color, and they all did “pushups” just like the adults do. I heart mantises! (Manti?)
omg, all he/she needs is a small boombox playing “In Your Eyes”…
mmm Lloyd Dobler-mantis
Not snorgable, but really beautiful. Isn’t nature amazing!
Credit for pic should be given to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/showmeeuphoria/278635073/in/photostream/
[Noted, thanks! - Ed.]
WAY cool photo!!!
Yes, it’s obviously Mantis threat display–probably b/c the camera lense is so close and Ms Mantis about to open a can of Whoop A** on it!
Mantis wings are usually folded back–that’s why we don’t see them. However, she is all I’M DA SHIZZ and the wingage is to SCARE YOU SO BACK OFF!!!!!
thanks for the neat pix
It’s an INSECTICON!!
RUN AWAY!!!!
Haha this looks like a “YAY!” picture to me.
Fegli — it does, doesn’t it? Hmm.
I am actually TERRIFIED of mantises.
so although I know it’s in kick booty mode, I’m going to pretend it’s celebrating.
Absolutely fantastic photo – incredibly beautiful, and also cracks me up. Yippee!!
Mantises are really awesome – really kind of prehistoric looking.
So cool! What a beauty!
@rissu, hahahahahha Didn’t even think of that, but you’re so right! Someone get on that boombox stat, we need to see it! Lloyd Dobler Mantis…ha ha ha ha ha….
Absolutely beautiful
The ironic thing is that looking at this picture made me extremely happy. What an awesomely gay (original sense of the word) display of fabulousness! The comments telling me that the mantis is scared or on the attack totally ruined it. Now I feel a little sick.
@Guido: LOL!!! Good one!!
Mantises (Manti?) are awesome bugs! They eat bad bugs. You can even buy mantis egg cases to set about your garden for natural pest control.
Normally, I am in the anti-bug crowd…but this guy is funny!
Somewhere HR Giger is furiously sketching…
Awww! Yeah she’s feeling threatened but damn isn’t she beautiful?
I too am not a big bug person, BUT the earth needs bugs, and maybe beautiful picts of them can actually help some of us melt our cold hearts? Maybe?
Somewhere in Rio five old women are redesigning their costumes.
ButtaRumCake, if you do have a problem with bugs, that’s certainly one to do some trauama.
So apparently I am the only person here to go…”CREEEEPYYY!!!!” look at that abdomen, you can tell she just ate a big fat, juicy bug for lunch. gross. GROSS, I say!
bored at work, couldn’t resist…
i present to you: doblermantis: http://www.meadbh.net/doblermantis.jpg
Mantis mantis yay!!!!
Most insects can see well into the UV spectrum, so the camera lens can look like a GIANT eye to them. he/she’s just threat posturing–animals won’t waste energy on an attack unless they need to. I used to work in the bug house at a zoo and I would take out a mantis, which would always climb to the highest point it could, the top of my head. Zoo visitors loved it!
It’s probably really about to attack.
lol… little bug shadow hehe
OMG SOMEBODY’S DOING MY RCFs FOR MEEEEE!!!
(hehe Rissu, that’s awesome! All my instincts, they return…)
…and here I was, just about to ask for a Lloyd Dobler RCF.
Yay rissu!!
WTG, rissu!
Normally, bugs are overload on the ICK scale, but this picture is just awesome. Kendra said she would be too busy running away to take the picture – RIGHT THERE WITH YA!
One time, when I was little and my dad was working at the firehouse overnight, there was a mantis on my parents’ bedroom ceiling. Obviously we could not go to bed without calling our neighbor over to help the scary beast out of the bedroom!!!
My husband and his brother unknowingly put a mantis nest in their bedroom closet when they were about 7/8. The mantises were EVERYWHERE. I would have had to have moved out of the house, forever.
Don’t for the Mantisyahu version!
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/mantisyahu1.jpg
Jason JB — ah yes, I remember that one. That’s actually an ICHC original caption, not user-submitted via the LOL Builder. I laughed and laughed and laughed, but not a lot of other folks did, which was too bad.
Cockatoo-my husband and I found a nest in our Christmas tree one year and -not knowing what it was- we saved it. Well, as will happen, it hatched while we were at work one day. When we came home my husband noticed the one hundred bazillion babies right away (before I did) and herded me into the bathroom with orders to stay put. I then heard the vacuum going and wondered what he was doing. He didn’t tell me or let me out until they were all gone (or so he thought). We did find them for weeks afterward. CREEPY!!
And I do agree that that is an amazing photograph. Beautiful color and everything. And I won’t let anybody hurt a mantis. I just don’t want them around me.
rissu, i have two words for you: awe. some. also, simpsons ref in same post!? amazing.
what a fantastic photo. new desktop, woo hoo!
Oh man, praying mantises make me cry because they look so creepy.
Oh rock on man.
Great shot!
Yep, wallpaper, yep yep yep.
I see someone else commented about this, but it really does look like the little critter is doing the motion for Y-M-C-A.
Someone needs to Photoshop the M, the C, and the A. 
Seriously, it’s an outstanding picture. Kudos to the photographer.
Um ew bugs are not cute.
Pathetic earthlings, I will crush you!
UglyOverload.blogspot.com had this one a couple of months ago ^^ It used to be my desktop pic for about 6 weeks after that! I now have a Orchid Mantis on it!!
Perhaps the first Ugly/Cute overload crosspost? That feller has a real weakness for mantids of all sorts, despite the fact that when you get right down to it, they aren’t very ugly. Lex is spot on with the Orchid Mantis – that thing is beautitul!
That said, with a name like “Ugly Overload”, you can’t say you weren’t warned if you go check it out.
And we’re called The Aristocrats!
That picture totally made my day. I LOL’d so hard.
Raise your hands if you’re sure…
I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast where there are thousands of kinds of great bugs. We would catch mantises and wear them all day on our shirts. They “tame” really well. We always put them back on their bushes.
He is so PERFECT, and brave…it makes me sad to see his smallness in terms of the human world.
Awesome post! Thanks so much for posting this! Might I suggest someone submit a bug in a costume of some sort?
rissu, you’re a farkin’ genius!!
I <3 insects.
Rissu – I love the way your mind works. You really are an original. Super fun stuff! ;D
I LOVE him/her!
I hear “OPA!” whenever I look at this pic.
The image of this mantis will come up in my mind when I see pics of Carnivale’s costumed dancers. (In a good way.)
*wanders off to the next posts with a beat in my head of drums and whistles blowing*
/blush
thanks for all the comments
verrrry gooooood!
canon 40d?
[Nope... http://www.flickr.com/cameras/casio/ex-z750/ - Ed.]
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