Dragonfly Life
Dragonflies are some of the most amazing pond insects! Those beautiful, shimmering adults zooming around the pond actually spent most of their lives underwater as babies.
Dragonfly mothers lay their eggs in or near the pond water. When the eggs hatch, out come dragonfly nymphs — they look like chunky little underwater aliens! These nymphs live on the bottom of the pond for one to five years, hunting tiny water creatures.
When a nymph is ready to become an adult, it climbs up a plant stem out of the water. Its skin splits open and a beautiful adult dragonfly slowly pulls itself out! The new dragonfly spreads its wings and waits for them to dry before taking its first flight.
Adult dragonflies are incredible flyers. They can hover in place, fly backwards, and zoom at speeds up to 30 miles per hour! They catch mosquitoes and other small insects right out of the air.
**Wow Factor:** Dragonflies have been on Earth for over 300 million years — they were flying around even before the dinosaurs!