Dragons and Damsels

Many positive spiritual and popular meanings are attributed to dragonflies and damselflies by cultures around the world. There are combined about 5000 species of dragonflies and damselflies. The oldest dragonfly fossils that have been found are from 325 million years ago. Damselfly fossils date from 250 million years ago. Dragonfly eyes cover most of their head. Each compound eye has 28,000 individual lenses. Analyzing visual information occupies more than 80% of their brain. Damselfly eyes are similar but further apart and smaller. Both can fly very fast and nimbly. Some of the larger dragonflies are among the fastest flying insects. They both can also hover and fly backwards. With their unique wings and awesome eyesight, they are very skillful predators of other insects in flight. That includes many mosquitoes. Dragonflies sometimes work in groups especially when their prey is swarming. Both are also skillful predators in their fresh water nymph stage. That stage lasts a few weeks to several years, depending on the species, before they emerge as flying terrestrial creatures for only a few days or weeks. They present a wide range of beautiful colors and patterns.