Photo by Boris Smokrovic
We now celebrate Dragonfly Day on the 2nd Saturday of June each year, but they have been buzzing around on Earth for nearly 300 million years. Dragonfly fossils have been discovered with 3-foot wingspans, and some scientists say that at one time they may have been just as large as today’s eagles! Of course, the planet was a much hotter and more humid place in those years.
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann
The 5,000 dragonfly species are a delight to the eye with their bright metallic colors or soft pastel hues. Even today’s-sized dragonfly wings make them the fastest of all insects, flying as fast as 35 mph.
Photo by David Clode
Plus, they maneuver like an extreme helicopter… straight up or down, forward or backward.
Photo by Jude Infantini
Their nearly 30,000 eye facets provide 360-degree vision.
Photo by Timothy Dykes
The great eyesight did not prevent one very large dragonfly from getting caught in a thick spiderweb by our house. I could hear the franticly ceaseless fluttering as it merely wrapped itself more densely in webbing. Fortunately for the dragonfly, I pulled it free from the web. It then stopped struggling and let me painstakingly pluck every bit of webbing from its body and wings. Hubby says that dragonfly never forgot and spread the word that I was its hero. Ever since that day, it seems that dragonflies flock to me, land on me, and hover near me. And I do not mind one bit.
Photo by Ashish Khanna
Dragonflies abound in wetlands. Catching their prey with their feet, a single dragonfly eats about 100 mosquitos each day! While most dragonflies live for a few weeks up to a year, they can live for years underwater.
The dragonfly symbolizes good luck, prosperity, and life transformations. Now we know!
