Facts about dragonflies
Dragonflies can be recognized very easily, slender bodies,long and their four glistening wings. They are usually large, and the biggest of them are among the largest insects. Their wings are so fixed the body that they can move forwards and backwards. Dragonflies make a rustling noise when they fly because their wings beat very slowly through the air. People are often frightened of dragonflies because they are big and noisy, but they neither sting or bite. They feed on insects which they catch on the wing. Dragonflies, which are aquatic insects, live around ponds. Like most insects, they go through different stages as they grow up. They begin their lives as eggs, which the females lay on the stems of water plants. From each egg is hatched a small dull-brown larva, known as a nymph, which immediately drops into the water and down to the bottom of the pond. There it lives up to 1year or even more, when it finally leaves the water as an adult Dragonfly.
The nymph, has fairly long legs, and on its back are two pairs of tiny wings, which are quite useless on these long legs, it stalks other water insects, worms and tadpoles. If you should accidentally put a dragonfly nymph into your aquarium, it will probably kill everything else. It walks slowly to within range of its prey shoots out a pair of jaws, like tongs at the end of jointed mouth parts, seizes it pray, and devours it. Then it folds these jaws back on its face, nearly covering it, like a mask.
Young dragonfly Out skin does not grow, but from time to time it splits along the back, and the nymph sheds this outer skin. Each time this happens the nymph grows bigger before the new skin underneath hardens. So the young Dragonfly grows in spurts. At the same time as the body grows, the wings become larger as well. When the nymph is fully grown, it is ready to leave the water. It climbs up on the stem of a water plant, or sometimes even a tree-trunk and there it hangs by its legs. Once again the skin on the back splits, this time to release the fully grown Dragonfly.
The Dragonfly is pale in color at first and it's wings are crumpled. But as it clings by its feet to the plant stem, the wings expand and harden, and in about an hour the Dragonfly is ready to fly.
The Dragonfly could very well be called the Hawk of the insects. It has very large eyes, which make up most of the head, and its sight is the keenest of all its senses. It keeps a sharp look out for flying insects, which it darts after and devours. Dragonflies are also like hawks in their strong, swift flight. They may dart through the air at about a minutes, and some of them soar and hover much as hawks do