It’s beheading day on AZBlog! (See my earlier posting today, “non-profits”.)
In the 4/4/22 issue of The New Yorker, the finalists in the magazine’s Cartoon Caption Contest announced in the 3/21 issue, to provide the caption for this wonderfully grotesque praying mantis drawing by Felipe Galindo:
Waiter in elegant restaurant presents mantis with her mate’s head on a platter; Galindo has managed to give the mantis expressive eyes — but expressive of what?
From Wikipedia:
Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity. It has sometimes been observed in natural populations, where about a quarter of male-female encounters result in the male being eaten by the female
… The female may begin feeding by biting off the male’s head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm.
(If you’re a guy and you can read this without anxiety, you’re one steely dude. If you’re a guy and reading this gets you hard, you’re one kinky dude, and John Waters might have work for you.)
And the finalists are…
“From the gentleman at the bar.”
“Shall I serve your husband first, madame?”
“I believe you’re familiar with tonight’s entree.”
There’s an earlier Galindo cartoon on this blog, with some information about the cartoonist, in my 8/12/21 posting “The Desert Islanders get visitors”.
April 4, 2022 at 9:47 pm |
I’m going with #2 caption…it’s a clever play on words. But as an aside, I’ve always wondered why the females aren’t called “preying” mantis.
April 5, 2022 at 4:49 am |
My vote is for #1, but I think they’re all good.
Well, yes, “praying” because of the posture, but they are also predators. In the words of Boss Tweed, let us prey.
April 13, 2022 at 3:51 pm |
Now, in the 4/18/22 issue, the winner is … #1 (contributed by David Chevalier of Madbury NH). From the gentleman at the bar.