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My Home:
I am most often found near water
and usually remain within a few miles of the place where my egg was
hatched.
What I
eat: As a larva, I eat tadpoles
or small fish. As an adult I will eat other small insects, primarily
mosquitoes, and I am considered useful for controlling the mosquito
population. Dragonflies are carnivorous in both larval and adult
stages.
What I
look like: I have four wings and
my wingspan in certain species can be up to 7 inches long. I have a
long thin abdomen. I am quite harmless and will not sting, attack or
bite.
How I am
born: I go through three stages
of development: egg, naiad (larval) and adult. My egg is laid in water
and I typically hatch in two to three weeks. In my larval stage I am
called a naiad. I live in the water and use internal gills to breath. I
can live in the water as a naiad for two to three years. When I am
ready to become an adult I crawl out of the water and shed my skin. As
an adult, I can live for over a year if I migrate away from the cold.
Fun
Facts: The largest living
dragonfly lived over 250 million years ago (before the dinosaurs) and
had a wingspan of over three feet! A dragonfly needs warmth to fly and
you will notice they will often land when the sun goes behind a cloud.
There are 3,600 species of dragonflies in the world.
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