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I did not believe my eyes. A piece of wood was eating a leaf. Was I seeing things? It was a hot day in Costa Rica. That is a country in Central America.

I poked the small stick. Surprise! It was not wood. It was a mantid. That is a kind of bug. It looked at me.

The bug was upside down on a branch. Then I saw the leaf was a bug too! It was a katydid.

The mantid was eating the katydid. All that was left were its wings. The green wings looked like leaves.

The mantid finished eating. It folded its big legs and sat still. It looked more like a stick than ever.

I am a scientist. I study insects. They have six legs. Their bodies have three main parts. Insects have no backbones. Instead, they have hard outer bodies. This covering is called an exoskeleton.

I know bugs. Still, those two fooled me! Mantids and katydids are good at hiding.

Katydids are really good at hiding. There are nearly 7,000 kinds of these bugs. Many look like something else.

Some katydids look like plants. Many look like leaves. Others look like grass or sticks.

These bugs are also good at staying still. That helps them hide. Other animals don’t see the bugs. They leave them alone.

Katydids stop hiding at night. Then they walk, feed, and sing. Eyes are little help at night. So these bugs use smell to find food.

Katydids also have good ears. They pick up sounds we cannot hear. Guess what? The ears are on the bug's knees.

Sometimes an enemy gets too close. Then this bug jumps with strong back legs. That helps the katydid get away.

A katydid can bite too. It has strong jaws. I learned that the hard way.

Katydids can escape from many bugs. Yet one bug gives katydids trouble. It is the mantid. There are 1,800 kinds of mantids.

These bugs catch food most animals avoid. They eat wasps and spiders. They do not fear a katydid's bite.

To hunt, a mantid stays still. Its eyes look all over. What happens when a mantid spots a katydid? The mantid moves closer. It crawls slowly. It does not want the katydid to spot it.

Soon the mantid is close enough to attack. It grabs the katydid. It holds the bug away from its body. That keeps the katydid from fighting back.

Then the meal begins. The wings are the only leftovers.

Mantids and katydids have been around for a long time. These bugs lived in the time of dinosaurs.

I picked up the leftover wings. They made me feel sorry for the katydid. Yet I knew the meal helped the mantid. I knew something else too. I might find mantid wings next time. That is how nature works.

Article by Piotr Naskrecki. Top-of-page photo by James Robinson/Animals Animals. "Bug Battles" appears on pages 12-17 of our May 2006 issue.

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