My wife discovered this praying manits, which was more than two inches (well over 5cm) long, in our front yard, as she gardened. I made a lot of photographs to come up with this one, my favorite, because it's in focus, it isn't blurred, and I managed to recognize and work in a nice background to show the mantis off.

Unfortunately, it was definitely aware of my presence when I began making photographs with my digicam, which has an astoundingly good macro, but put me too close to my subject, frightening it. I switched to my DSLR with a macro lens, and I was able to keep a more discreet distance from my subject.

Over all the years I've lived in Los Angeles, I've never seen a praying mantis in my city. Quite possibly, long after all cities on earth have disappeared, the mantis will still be around. After all, it evolved into a terrifying killing machine 145 million years ago.