Frequently Asked Questions About The Praying Mantis (Can Mantis Survive Falls, Do They Bite Humans, Do They Run Fast?)

Praying Mantis's are beautiful creatures, look at them big black eyes. 

Praying Mantis are of the order of "Mantodea", they are marked by their long bodies, tall stature when upright, and their amazing 'prayer' position and two strong front legs. As seen in my picture above that I took, Mantis have strong front legs and are easily able to climb onto walls, doors, cupboards etc. Mantis are strong-minded creatures, with human-like features.

• A Praying Mantis will turn its head to look at you, or whatever it is trying to look at, since its eyes are on both sides. They are the only creature in the Insect kingdom to be able to sport this human-like eye function, and swivel their heads sideways. 
• Mantis do not lunge at you if you come close, unless you are deliberately touching and harassing it, but they usually run if you do this rather than ''claw'' you or bite. In fact, they very very rarely bite humans (even less than spiders, and spiders are wrongly accused half the time as culprits). Their 'bite' actually isn't even really a bite, its more likely an irritation and often a psychological response for insectophobes. They don't have big enough mouths or teeth to puncture human skin. Therefore I have my doubts they even do this honestly I was just stating the above for statistics sake. 
• Mantis are gentle, inquisitive, friendly and independent creatures. Their time of violence is usually with their mates (females often kill or eat the males), and against prey like flies, spiders etc. If you had a praying mantis in your house, chances are you would see less of almost every other bug, they mind their own business except with their hunting, then they get very much into the other bugs 'business'.

Now to the main questions...

CAN A MANTIS SURVIVE A FALL FROM DOOR OR WINDOWSILL?

• If they land on their feet and are able to run away, then yes they should be fine. They have very durable bodies in terms of their overall leg strength and body strength. However, their bodies are not meant to survive falls, if they land on their large oblong body, chances are it will be moderately to severely injured. So be careful with them, they are very delicate creatures even though they put on a good show of fierceness in the wild, overall they have to be handled with extreme care. Wild ones will likely run from you if touched, but pets usually grow to be friendly seeming or at least indifferent to touch/holding.

HOW FAST DO PRAYING MANTIS RUN?

• I've seen praying mantis drop from pretty high up or crawl down off a brick wall pretty fast, and when they get on the ground, it's no joke - they speed, they run faster than spiders I'd say. When a praying mantis really wants to run, you could consider them like an insect version of roadrunner.
• With that being said, they aren't constantly running around, a lot of times they are perched up on a wall or on a tree somewhere. They tend to like wooded/grassy environments. It's where they find the most food, of course.

DO THEY BITE HUMANS, ARE PRAYING MANTIS AGGRESSIVE TOWARDS HUMANS?

• Not usually, no. I'd say that they bite (scratch) less than spiders and given the chance to compare to a bed bug, its like 80:1. Mantis are straightforward creatures, as long as you aren't poking them and spitting at them, they will leave you alone. If they crawl on you, gently let them where they need to go. They aren't nearly as erratic, spontaneous and unpredictable as spiders. Spiders even, rarely bite, and when they do, it's when they are cornered like in a shoebox or something, and it's a reflex, not an intention. Mantis are more intelligent than spiders, and so therefore if you are not giving them any grief, they will probably just glance at you and resume business. There is no reason whatsoever to hurt a mantis, they are harmless and very helpful for planting, vegetable-growing, and general pest-removal. Seriously, put them in your garden! You will see a dramatically extensive removal of pests like slugs, weevils, beetles and such.
• When/if a praying mantis is not digging your presence, it will usually fly away or run away, or it may back up, sometimes it may scratch at you.