Dragonflies!

Dragonflies!

Amazing Dragonflies You're walking past a lake or stream when suddenly-bzzt! --something big, shiny, and green zooms past your head. It's bigger than a bumblebee. It's faster than a butterfly. It's an amazing dragonfly!

What Are Dragonflies? Dragonflies are flying insects with long bodies and two pairs of wings. They come in every color of the rainbow: bright red, sunny orange, even metallic blue, green, and gold. Some dragonflies have colorful stripes on their wings or bodies. Some even change color over time.

Dragonflies are often confused with damselflies because the two kinds of insects look like each other. You can tell dragonflies and damselflies apart when they land. When a damselfly isn't flying, it folds its wings together and holds them above its back. Dragonfly wings can't fold like a damselfly's. Dragonflies keep their wings stretched out to either side all the time.

Young Dragonflies Dragonflies need water during every stage of their life cycle. Adults lay their eggs in water or on plants near water. The young dragonflies, called nymphs, live in water for one or more years after hatching.

Nymphs look very different from adult dragonflies. They have gills inside their bodies, which allow them to breathe underwater. Dull green or brown coloring helps them hide from predators such as fish and frogs. To escape predators, they squirt a powerful stream of water through their gills. It launches the nymphs forward at high speed. As nymphs grow, their skin doesn't grow with them. Instead, dragonfly nymphs shed their entire outer layer each time they need to grow. When a nymph is ready to become an adult, it crawls out of the water. The adult dragonfly comes out of the last shed layer.