From a comment on a post on my friendfeed (I hope its ok that I quote this from you Kamilah Reed):

This makes me think of the mantis oothecae that I saw the mother lay on the edge of our deck. I saw her stand guard there until the cold killed her. The egg cases still out there, toughing it out through all this nasty cold weather. I can’t wait to see if we’ll actually have dozens of baby mantises next year. We’ve had them before, but I didn’t see where the case was last time.

I recently finished The Social Conquest of Earth (recommended), and found myself buying into Edward O. Wilsons arguments on social evolution vs. kin selection. We have become social beings based on traits like compassion of and empathy with, other individuals of our kind.

Based on th quote above though, you might want to expand the reach of those human traits to include other species as well. This quote encompasses empathy, compassion and sympathy towards a species far removed from our own. Importantly, a species I do not particularly care much about myself. Without the particular context of the story, I would gladly have gotten rid of those eggs, but since I find myself intrigued by the sacrifice of the mother-Mantis, I probably wouldn’t.

So, to all of you out there dooming the human race, despair not, – there may be hope. There are individuals out there that will share stories and facts that saves us – be thankful for diversity and keep listening.

Mantis religiosa trademark (Photo credit: macropoulos)