Big things start small... Very small.

babymantis2005a, originally uploaded by amiga3000.

This is a baby mantis (about a 1/4 inch long) that hatched with well over 100 other little brothers and sisters from a single egg case. My family and I collected some egg cases in early Winter and put them in our backyard. We were fortunate to be able to actually watch the hatching of this egg case as it happened... This little fellow is only an hour or so old.

We have been observing, photographing, and filming the mantis for about six years. This egg case hatched on June 30th, 2005 in Urbana, IL.

We will post updates throughout the Summer and Fall. Some of the mature mantis that we have observed in past seasons have been between 5 and 6 inches long...