Since before the age of the dinosaurs, dragonflies have been darting through the air above Earth’s lakes and ponds.
They are so perfectly adapted to their environment, they have hardly changed in hundreds of millions of years.
Despite this, the adult dragonfly does not have a long lifespan.
Once airborne, it’s main objective is to mate and lay eggs. Many dragonflies will be caught by predators before this and if they aren’t, they will only live for a few months before dieing.
This may make it seem like the dragonfly has a relatively short life, but this isn’t the case.
Although the adult lives for only a few months, the larvae that lives underwater can live for up to four years.
This enables it to catch enough prey to slowly grow to adult size. Once they reach this stage, they emerge from the water, split they skin open and emerge as the adult dragonfly.
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