If you are curious about dragonfly facts, look no further. We have put together the most interesting dragonfly facts you will find anywhere on the internet.
Some people love dragonflies and some people hate them, but these large, flying insects are totally harmless and the superstitions that surround them are nothing but myths.
Dragonflies are known by several names, including flying snakes, snake feeders, devil’s darning needles, horse stingers, and others. Some folklore superstitions have the dragonfly sewing up the mouths of bad children and feeding or healing snakes.
A dragonfly can appear scary, especially to children, but this is because many grow to be as large as five inches and look quite large, especially when they fly around your head.
Dragonfly facts tell us that they have very large, rotating heads, with antennas which are quite short. The wings are broken down into many cells and are clear and very long.
Their wings enable flight which appears as graceful as that of a butterfly. When dragonflies are born, they live in water. As adults, they live on land--their legs are used to grasp their prey but they never walk on their legs.
One of the best dragonfly facts is that dragonflies eat flying bugs which bite humans, such as mosquitoes. They are truly beneficial insects in every way as they eat many insects which are garden pests. In fact, they eat almost every type of flying insect from flies to moths and butterflies. Leafhoppers are not neglected by dragonflies either.
Some insects are caught with the jaws while others are caught with the wings.
Dragonflies need males and females to mate with one another in order to reproduce. The female lays her eggs underwater and sometimes they are inserted into the stems of underwater plants.
Occasionally, they are attached to underground structures and sometimes they are free floating. When baby dragonflies enter their larval stage, they eat all type of aquatic insects.
They gradually eat larger and larger insects as they grow and even graduate to small fish. They are one of the species which will even eat others of their own kind.
Facts Dragonflies
There are many more interesting dragonfly facts. Here are a few of them:- There are over 400 species of dragonflies in the United States alone.
- The larva stage of a dragonfly can last a total of three years while the adult dragonfly only lives for around six weeks.
- Scientists report dragonflies have been on earth for 300 million years.
- Dragonflies have multifaceted eyes which can see an entire 360 degrees all of the time. You will never successfully sneak up behind a dragonfly.
- Dragonflies can fly at speeds 30 mph and above.
- There are 5000 species of dragonflies in the world.
- Dragonflies look like helicopters and they fly like them too, by hovering.
- One eye of a dragonfly has 30,000 lenses.
- The largest adult dragonflies are known as hawkers.
- The smallest dragonflies are known as darters.
- Dragonflies mate in the air and the male is always careful not to be pulled into the water when the female lays her eggs.
- Dragonflies are so named because their mouths are said to be as strong as that of a dragon.
- Dragonflies do not like cold weather so they form swarms and migrate to warmer locations just like birds.
- Dragonflies have their own predators. They are eaten by lizards, spiders, fish, other dragonflies and water beetles, just to name a few.
- Dragonflies existed before dinosaurs.
- Dragonflies are carnivores both as babies and adults.
- Humans are the biggest threat to dragonflies, and the greatest danger is global warming
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