Damsel/ Dragon Sex...

I am willing to bet most of you have not thought much about damsels /dragons. Am I right?  But I am not talking about medieval fire blowing dragons/ damsels in distress.

When friend Colleen asked if I would be interested in  a presentation at the Public Library about Damsels and Dragons I immediately replied, "Sure" since I assumed it was about Fairy Gardening to be honest. 

But what I was treated to was a very enthusiastic and informative talk by the local Audubon president, Dan Jackson, who not only is a bird aficionado but for the last five years has become a Damsel and Dragonfly expert due to his penchant for photography. OK, don't roll your eyes because the main emphasis of the talk was about SEX.  Uh huh, I knew that would get your attention. 

I had a lot to learn as I have just been an admirer of these flying species not only in our garden but also on canoe trips.

So before we get to the sex talk, do you know the difference between dragonflies and damselflies?  Well, I learned the dragonfly's front and back wings differ in shape and size, how they are held separately and open perpendicular compared to the damselfly's same size wings which are held together over their back (1 exception) As you might guess the dragonflies are more powerful fliers too.  Damselflies also have a more slender body and their eyes are more widely separated. 

We might not be able to boast about our employment rate/ much else any more in Wisconsin but we do have more species of these flies than our Minnesota neighbors. 

What's also interesting about these guys' life span is that most of their lives are spent in the nymph stage in water (anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 years) with very little time as adults.  They get to leave the water to be come an adult. Below's one emerging as an adult.

The thin wings will need time to air out and dry with hopes that the new adult won't be picked off by birds/ other dragonflies.

Below are the various stages of emergence.

Once emerged it's time to go feed and so the adult flies will go to dry land. These flies have a very powerful extender pair of jaws and they will even eat each other. I guess they live in a 'dragon eat dragon 'world.  One species of dragonfly can even take down a hummingbird. That's pretty dang strong.

If you plan on catching one of these guys, you had better have a net as you can't get closer than about 4 ft before they flit off. Then if you don't hold all their wings, you will get bitten, more of a pinch but startling and smart.

 Once fed and strong, it's time for their purpose which is to reproduce and that means yes, SEX. The adult fly will now return to the water looking for the opposite SEX.  In the back of the female's head there are grooves/ indentations onto which the male will grab. Then he will fertilize the eggs remaining attached / hovering while the females lays the fertilized eggs. He wants to prevent another male from flying in for his 'woman' and jeopardizing his  investment and prodigies. After depositing the eggs where the plant will end up in water, the female will go rest on dry land and can return up to 2x more to repeat the process with other males. She can lay up to 1000 eggs. Whew what a life! 

Called the  'Circle' (the ACT)

I bet the next time you see a damsel/ dragon you'll have a new appreciation and respect now for both. I know I do.