Is That a Stick?

As I was walking beside my pickup this morning I saw what I thought was a stick on the hood.  I casually picked it up to throw it into the grass when it moved and I saw that it wasn't a stick at all, but an insect.




I hadn't seen one of these curious insects for a couple of years and I hoped that they weren't gone from these parts.  How something living could look so dead, so slender, so wood-like is a mystery.  So good is its mimicry that it sways as a stick would with the wind blowing it.  Any bird that catches one of these walking sticks has a sharp eye, for certain.

 According to National Geographic, there are over 3,000 species of them, varying in size from a few inches to one in Borneo that is 13 inches long.  Until I read about them, I had no idea there were that many.   In my experience with them from my childhood until now, they seemed pretty much alike.

All walking sticks are herbivores and in the US they seem to prefer blackberry leaves. As far as I know they don't destroy large amounts of plant leaves. They are of the Phasmatodea order, in Greek meaning phantom or apparition - an apt name since they seem to materialize from stick to living insect.

This photo shows the head of the walking stick.

This is the tail and what appears to be pincers.  I carefully handled it and it didn't use it as a defense.  Maybe it could be an ovipositor or used when mating.  





 This is the full view of the walking stick insect.
 (Remember, click on the photo to enlarge it.)