Fun Facts

Dragonflies

Dragonfly Metamorphosis | Laura Gardner, October 2021

Dragonflies have been around for 290 million years and found on every continent except Antarctica. They are among the fastest of flying insects and they are the master of the dodge-and-weave maneuver. They have two sets of swiveling wings which allow them to hover motionless, fly upside down or backwards and change their tack in a second. A dragonfly can fly forward at speeds up to 30 miles per hour, making them difficult to catch.

The dragonfly’s speed, agility, and superhero vision make it a lethal ambush predator, able to track, nab, and devour insect prey in midair, usually sneaking up from below. They must fly to survive because they only eat when they are flying. They are more than 95% accurate in catching their prey: mosquitoes, gnats, horseflies, flying ants, and termites. This welcome garden visitor has a voracious appetite for insects, eating up to hundreds of mosquitoes a day. When hunting, dragonflies catch prey with their feet, tear off the prey's wings with their sharp jaws so it can't escape, and scarf the sorry bug down, all without needing to land.

Their eggs hatch in water where the nymphs develop what will emerge as wings later on. Newly emerged dragonflies are soft-bodied, pale, and highly vulnerable to predators. Birds and other predators consume a significant number of young dragonflies in their first few days.

Dragonflies are coldblooded but they are able to thermoregulate their own temperatures by a rapid whirring movement of their wings to raise their body temperatures, or positioning their bodies in sunlight depending on solar energy for warmth.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly https://www.almanac.com/content/dragonflies-facts-symbolic-meaning-and-habitat)