Interesting. Is that for the head specifically (lots of nutients)? Is that also the specific aim of the female? For protection I guess it's pretty damn quick and effective way to kill something.

The head is not particularly nutritious (it's not like they have huge brains or anything), but it's the only part of the male the female mantis can reach during mating, so she starts with that.

 

This gives the advantage to the female because the head is where the male keeps his jaws, so it gets that risk out of the way quickly, and the body of the male will continue delivering sperm without the head. She will continue to eat the whole thing in due course. It's a convenient and substantial free meal.

(Chess is an analogue to war, but is Monopoly designed to teach people to hoard wealth?)

 

Actually, the precursor to the game of Monopoly was a propaganda tool for promoting a single-tax system, thought up by Elizabeth Magie-Phillips, not to teach you to hoard wealth. It was changed because beating up on your opponents, economically in this case, is more fun.

Maybe it's a defence mechanism for cyanide.

 

Cyanide, a 2 element chemical, Carbon and Nitrogen with a defense mechanism!

 

3 Chems at Most for the nice smelling version HCN.

I've always thought that if something is poisonous and pleasant to most then a) our genetic ancestors just haven't dealt with it too much to sort of evolve into disliking it or b) it's almost or completely identical in smell to something else that isn't toxic. I'm probably very, very wrong as usual.