This little creature looks like a stick ... and it acts like a stick ...
![[Image: walkingstick.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=img59.imageshack.us%2Fimg59%2F8855%2Fwalkingstick.jpg)
... But it is not a stick.
It's an animal known as the walking stick insect.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmatodea
... But it is not a stick.
It's an animal known as the walking stick insect.
Quote:Stick insects, like praying mantis, show rocking behaviour in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behaviour include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of simpler animals. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmatodea
