Dragonfly

60 000 eyes

The dragonflies are very powerful and agile fliers. They can fly as fast as 30 km / h and can stay in the air for several hours without having to land.

Appearance and characteristics

The two pairs of wings can beat independently, which means that the dragonfly can maneuver very skillfully. When it hoovers, the forewings are beating 180° out of phase with the hindwings. In the case of rapid change of direction, all the wings beat simultaneously.

Each wing has a dark spot on the front edge. It has high density which stabilizes the wing. This makes the dragonfly a fast glider. Dragonflies catch other insects in the air. They calculate the prey’s path and attack from below.

The dragonfly has the best eyesight of all insects. It has two large compound eyes and three small ocelli, giving it a large field of view as well as visual acuity.

A large dragonfly can have up to 30,000 ommatidia - in every facet eye! When some of the ommatidia discover a flying insect, the dragonfly twists its head so that both large compound eyes are directed towards the possible prey.