Interviewer: "Hey, Gulf Fritillary! What happened to you? Something take a chunk out of your wings?"
Miss Gulf Frit: "I dunno. I was just fluttering around the passionflower vine and something grabbed me."
Interviewer: "Do you have any idea what happened?"
Miss Gulf Frit: "Sorry, no. It happened so fast but I managed to escape. A miss is as good as a mile, right?
Interviewer (turning to praying mantis): "Ms. Mantis, do you have any idea what happened here?"
Ms. Mantis: "What? You talking to me? You talking to me?"
Interviewer: "Yes, you're the only other one in the passionflower patch."
Ms. Mantis (smiling): "It wasn't me, y'hear. It wasn't me! Okay, well, maybe it was me. I was hungry. I'm still hungry. I missed!"
Interviewer: "Well, a miss is as good as a smile."
Attached Images:
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, manages to fly despite a huge chunk missing from her wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Gulf Fritillary turns around. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata: "You talking to me? You talking to me? It wasn't me, y'hear. It wasn't me." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)