Delightful Dragonflies!
Flying insects are for the most part, really annoying. Mosquitoes bite you, leaving itchy red welts. Wasps sting. Flies are just disgusting. But there’s something kind of magical about dragonflies.
Adult dragonflies are what people in the gardening industry call, “beneficial bugs”, meaning that they eat the pesky insects that fly, like flies. They are also a great way to control the mosquito population. A single dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes per day. Dragonflies will also eat moths and smaller dragonflies, and one Asian variety of dragonfly will even eat spiders right out of their webs.
No need to worry about bites or stings with this incredible insect! Contrary to urban legend, dragonflies do NOT bite or sting. They can TRY to bite but cannot break human skin – not even the LARGEST dragonflies can bite a human.
Dragonflies are expert fliers. They can fly straight up and down, hover like a helicopter and even mate mid-air. Dragonflies don’t just chase down their prey as most predators do. Instead, they snag them from the air with calculated aerial ambushes. Dragonflies can judge the speed and trajectory of a prey target and adjust their flight to intercept prey. They’re so skilled that they have up to a 95 percent success rate when hunting.
Think of a “stealth fighter jet” when it comes to a dragonfly’s ability to nab prey in flight quickly, effectively and intelligently. Amazing!