In Sentinel Meadow

We spend about fifteen minutes watching this Praying Mantis, inching closer and closer until I could touch her if I dared. I've always thought these were novelty pets or jungle dwellers, but here right in front of me in a golden Yosemite meadow is a real mantis, her striped abdomen pulsing so heavily that I think she might lay her eggs right in front of me. How elegantly she swivels her sweet triangular head, and did you know she uses her massive front legs to climb hand-over-hand like a monkey scampering up those dried stalks?