Dragonflies been around 325 million years; have the highest kill rate of any predator still

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Article suggests dragonflies are the most effective predators in the animal world - 95% success rate

Article suggests dragonflies are the most effective predators in the animal world – 95% success rate
byMihai Andrei
October 9, 2020
Lions roar and act tough, and they’re often regarded as kind of the land, but only 1 in 4 of their hunts is successful. Sharks have been on top of the food chain for hundreds of millions of years, and still half of their attempts fail. Dragonflies on the other hand, look soft and fragile, and are among the few insects which people generally believe look nice – but they are voracious predators, and may very well be the most efficient hunters in the animal kingdom.

They snatch their prey mid air with shocking precision, often wolfishly consuming the fresh meat on the spur without bothering to alight.

“They’ll tear up the prey and mash it into a glob, munch, munch, munch,” said Michael L. May, an emeritus professor of entomology at Rutgers. “It almost looks like a wad of snuff in the mouth before they swallow it.”

What does a dragonfly do after it eats? Usually, goes to eat some more – their appetite is just bottomless apparently. Stacey Combes, who studies the biomechanics of dragonfly flight at Harvard, once watched a laboratory dragonfly eat 30 flies in a row.

In a series of recent papers, researchers have pinpointed key features of the dragonfly’s brain, eyes and wings that allow it to hunt so much without failing; one team has shown that they have an almost human-like ability for selective attention, being able to focus on a single insect from a swarm, just as a man at a party focuses on his date, ignoring the background buzz.

In other research, researchers have identified a kind of master circuit of 16 neurons that connect the dragonfly’s brain to its flight motor center in the thorax – this neural pathway enabling it to track a moving target, calculate the interception trajectory and subtly adjust its own path as needed in the process. Apprently, they also use old sailor tricks.

As any experienced sea wolf will tell you, if you’re on a boat, and you see another boat moving at an angle relative to you, and as you approach, the angle doesn’t change, the two of you will crash. The dragonfly does the same thing – it moves in closer to its prety, but always seeing it on the same spot on the retina, keeping the angle constant.



The image of the prey is getting bigger, but if it’s always on the same spot of the retina, the dragonfly will intercept its target,” said Paloma T. Gonzalez-Bellido, an author of the new report who now works at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Entomologists have shown that this isn’t an active type of hunt, but rather an ambush.

“Before I got into this work, I’d assumed it was an active chase, like a lion going after an impala,” Dr. Combes said. “But it’s more like ambush predation. The dragonfly comes from behind and below, and the prey doesn’t know what’s coming.”

The fact that they’re perfectly adapted for flying and hovering also helps them. They’re able to reach speeds of 50 km/h with only three wing beats, dive, fly backward and upside down, and pivot 360 degrees.

“A dragonfly can be missing an entire wing and still capture prey,” Dr. Combes said.

 

[Lord-Yosh]

the more you know

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

whats that KDR looking like tho

 

[MushroomX]

whats that KDR looking like tho

Near Perfect. They can fly in ANY direction, as they will wipe out a mosquito population by the end of the Summer if there is a good amount.



Just as deadly against Wasps

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Near Perfect. They can fly in ANY direction, as they will wipe out a mosquito population by the end of the Summer if there is a good amount.



Just as deadly against Wasps

I got into a bored internet black hole reading about them one day because I was cutting the grass and for some reason a bunch of them were circling my house that day and I didn’t get one mosquito bite. I wanted them to stay lol.

I also notice they don’t annoy you by flying around you like most insects. There can be a swarm of them in the vicinity but they won’t fly in your face or anything. Then I learned it was because of their fine motor control of each wing and their 360 acute vision.

 

[Hood Critic]

 

[88m3]

do they kill bees?


If they don't maybe we need more of them

 

[InterestedNow]

Cool article! Knowledge is power.

 

[Kenny West]

Im ready to take one for the team and make these nikkas an invasive species in my neighborhood

 

[hashmander]

i just googled how to attract dragonflies in florida. seems a pond is a key ingredient, but i have a pond and i don't see them fukkers. i guess i need the right kind of pond plants then because i want a mosquito holocaust in my backyard daily.

 

[YaThreadFloppedB!]

Dragonflies are the good guys

Always an abundance of them in the Spring and early Summer growing up in South Ga. I’m sure they eat good off the gnats and mosquitoes down there.

As a jit they would always fly next to my bike wheels. They seem very curious but weren’t an annoyance

 

[Yehuda]

That's what's up I had no idea that they're predators let alone that they eat mosquitoes.

 

[MushroomX]

i just googled how to attract dragonflies in florida. seems a pond is a key ingredient, but i have a pond and i don't see them fukkers. i guess i need the right kind of pond plants then because i want a mosquito holocaust in my backyard daily.

They take a long time to become Adults, so they live underwater and eating Mosquito larvae.

 

[Cuban Pete]

I fukk with dragonflies, bees, and some species of ants. That's where the buck stops with insects for me. maybe house spiders too but they better not get too big

Edit: how could I forget my dawg praying mantis