Predatory mantises disguise themselves as orchids

Camouflage is their strategy of survival. To survive you have to find a way to hide yourself from other predators and also find food needed for your upkeep. This is what mantises do for their survival.

They behave like chameleons by changing their bodies to suit the environment they live.

But not like chameleons, mantises grow themselves to suit the environment and their other needs such as finding food.

When you observe this photograph you might wonder what is wrong with mother nature to allow a mantis to look like a colourful and lovely orchid flower.

This orchid mantis, named after the flower it strikingly resembles, fools prey and predators alike. Its imitation of orchids is so convincing that insects are more attracted to it than the real deal. Orchid mantises are unique. They stand out instead of blending in, beating orchids at their own game. James O' Hanlon, a biologist from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia says that he was admiring pictures of orchid mantises and they with their petal-shaped legs and rich pink, white and purple bodies were a "tantalising lure" for insects. "Now, over a century later, we have textbooks and scientific articles stating that mantises mimic flowers as if it was an established fact," he says. O'Hanlon felt it was his job to set the record straight, so he travelled to Malaysia with a group of scientists to study orchid mantises.

Conducting the study wasn't easy - O'Hanlon and his team knew almost nothing about these creatures.

The researchers first tested colours of the mantis under wavelengths of light visible to flying and pollinating insects. This confirmed that the colours were indeed indistinguishable from 13 species of wild flowers. Next, the scientists watched how pollinators behaved around live orchid mantises.

They witnessed over a dozen instances of unsuspecting insects getting close enough to the mantises to be snatched and gobbled up. This helped the research team conclude that the centuries-old theory is actually true.

"We now know that not only is it possible for mantises to lure pollinators, but also we know that they are amazingly good at it," says O'Hanlon. "They can attract even more pollinators than some flowers."

Researchers have confirmed that orchid mantises are the only species in the world that imitates flowers to attract prey. According to O'Hanlon, "There are other animals that are known to camouflage amongst flowers and ambush prey, but they do not actually attract the pollinators themselves."

Orchid mantises sound like lucky creatures, don't they? Not only do they look great, all they have to do is laze around on a branch and their food comes flying right at them. What more could they want!

'The Angel of the Gap' saves suicide-prone people

He is no more, but he is still remembered for his valuable service to the human kind. He had saved 160 lives from tragic deaths by his persuasion power. Now comes a whole heap of inquisitive questions. Who? What? When? Where? Known as the "Angel of the Gap" for nearly 50 years Don Ritchie had saved the lives of people who were on the verge of suicide.

During his lifetime he had managed to stop 160 suicides-prone humans from plunging to their deaths at Australia's most famous suicide spot - a cliff called "the Gap" - using just a kind word and a fore-bearing smile. But today he is no more, he passed away two years ago at the age of 85 and he is still fondly remembered and honoured as the "Angel of the Gap".

Ritchie, with his light-hearted way of living was a remarkable human being who deliberately chose to live right across the street from the Gap to save lives. He would wake up every morning and the first thing he does is to open the window and look at the Gap to see whether anyone is standing too close to the precipice.

According to his daughter Sue Ritchie Bereny if he saw someone who he thought might commit suicide he would simply walk over with his palms facing up, smile and ask, "Is there something I could do to help you?" That sounds incredibly simple, but the trick worked - Ritchie managed to strike a conversation with these people and ended up inviting them back to his house for tea or breakfast.

"And that was all that was often needed to turn people around, and he would say not to underestimate the power of a kind word and a smile," said Sue Ritchie.

"I'm offering them an alternative, really," Ritchie once said. "I always act in a friendly manner. I smile. Over the years, I've spoken to many, many of them - just a way of saying, 'What are you doing over here? Please come and talk to me. Come over and have a cup of tea, come and have a beer.' To get them away from their mind, to get them away from going over while I'm here." Ritchie had served in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II and spent his later years working as a life insurance salesman. In 1964, he moved into a house on Old South Head Road, right across the road from the southern end of the Gap Park. He began saving suicidal strangers soon after. "We'd been here only a short time before I realised that a lot of people were coming over here and looking at the view and the next thing I find, they disappeared!" he said in an interview. "We've been involved in lots of these incidents and it's just become part of a way of life for me to sort of sell them the idea that why not come over and talk about it and see how we can fix it." In 2006, Ritchie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for all his rescues. In 2010, he and his wife were named Woollahra Council's citizens of the year and in 2011, he was given the Local Hero Award for Australia by the National Australia Day Council.