Not so little anymore

Hey ya'll 

What a week! And what a weekend too!!! I ended the teaching week yesterday by heading off for a game of badminton with some of my colleagues and the PhD students. I must say, having not exercised properly in quite awhile, two hours of non-stop serves and smashes have left my body "thanking me" (despite it feeling a LOT healthier) with muscle aches and sores!!! I swear, I can barely climb the three flights of stairs it takes to get to my room. More than once I was tempted to crawl up instead, but imagine how awkward it would be if someone caught me in such a compromising position!!! In other news, our mantis Dian-Dian (which means Little One in Chinese) molted today, and while this is most certainly a cause for celebration, it came to us as a bit of a shock I'm afraid as I was not expecting it to happen so soon and had hope to power feed her for at least a few more weeks in hopes that she will grow to an even larger size!!! I wonder if the injury she sustained from her previous molt has anything to do with this. Naturally, a crippled mantis would have next to no hope of surviving in the wild, and I'm curious to know if it is some sort of a evolutionary mechanism that "rushes" them into their next molt when this happens... you know, to increase the probability of survival or something like that. Hmmm. Something to research in to, no doubt. In the meantime, do take a look at these photographs of her. 

Not as large as some of my other mantises, perhaps... but isn't she a beauty nonetheless?

Now, the arduous task of finding her a suitor. 

Cheers,
Cyren