> We don't have those here, but we found praying mantises all the time in the hedges around our house in Virginia. Those are without a doubt the coolest bugs there are.

Yes, they are! I never heard they were endangered, though. Maybe that's only the species you have in the USA?

In addition to all the other reasons they are cool, the baby ones I used to get ALL OVER the outside of my previous house were incredibly cute. Seeing a tiny mantis, spring-leaf green with little arms like threads, rear up and strike a belligerent pose in front of a cat forty zillion times its size is pretty funny. What's even funnier is when the cat runs away in alarm.