The dragonfly is the most efficient / lethal predator in the animal kingdom

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They are pretty amazing to watch. I remember a buddy creating a dragonfly thunderdome.

My 2 personal favorites...

Roseate skimmer



Halloween pennant

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People swear that putting the fake dragonfly decoys around your house will keep flying insects away. If it's true, that success rate would make sense as to why.

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I don't see how that works. I doubt mosquitoes have the capacity to calculate risk.

W need to breed them to see and fly at night

If you think the adults are cool, you should see their larvae...

I majored in biology and love learning stuff like this.

I had a similar eye opening experience when a family of paper wasps started constructing a nest under one of the eaves of my shed. They're often confused with yellowjackets since they have similar yellow and black stripes, but they are totally different. I bought the spray to kill them, but then like a biology and life loving idiot did research on them.

Paper wasps are the least aggressive members of the wasp family, and are less aggressive than most bees. They will only attack if their nest is being threatened, and even then their preferred choice is to "bump" into the predator to scare it away. They will only sting if it's the last resort to protecting their nest.

They have a nest with a central queen, but that queen will also allow secondary queens if they're family members. The way this works is because they're one of the few insects that can recognize faces, including humans. They're able to recognize faces of family members and humans that are regularly around them and have proven to pose no threat.

That's right, you can actually raise and train a paper wasp, as a human, with their favorite treat - honey. Just like bees and other flying insects, they are attracted to sweets and are prolific pollinators. They are also prolific hunters of flies, gnats, mosquitoes, moths, and other flying pests (including other wasps).

The adults don't eat anything but sugary pollen and tree bark, but the hunters of the hive go out and hunt these other insects to feed the growing larvae back at the nest. These hunters are born into their roles and begin their work to feed the young from the moment they're born. The workers of the hive go out and feed on tree bark and other wood to bring back and build/expand their hive. They are also born into this role and begin immediately after birth. There are also others who do nothing but bring sweet pollen back to the hive to feed the working adults for energy.

I know this post is long, but this kind of stuff absolutely fascinates me and I hope it does for someone else. Needless to say, I did not spray them and their nest. They've slowly expanded over the months but have entirely left me and my family alone even though we're outside constantly. I'm able to walk up within inches of the nest and see their progress, watch as each new one is born and goes to work. It's something I never thought I'd do

Didn't know that they were serious predators. Thanks for posting.

I think it is, or was, the most studied insect of all by the Department of Defense

And a great video