Posted
Rescuing a dragonfly older than dinosaurs taught me 'everything is a miracle'
Posted:
After hiking with friends around Figure Eight Lake (County of Northern Lights), we settled at the dock for a picnic lunch and watched with delight the dragonflies hunting for their lunch.
I spotted a dragonfly on its back in the water. We thought she was dead, but she started frantically moving her wings.
She managed to flip over but couldn't lift off, so I scooped her up for fear she might drown.
She clung tightly to my thumb for about ten minutes as the breeze and the warmth of the sun dried her wings.
We were wide-eyed with wonder, marvelling at her intricate design, her eyes, her movements and… have you ever looked closely at a dragonfly's wings?!!
Enter to win a copy of Sharon Krushel's new nature guidebook by signing up to ZenSeekers' newsletter by August 12
She moved her front legs up over her eyes as if she was drying her face. And then the beautiful creature took flight, along with my enchanted curiosity!
I discovered that my “Lady of the Lake” is a female Variable Darner (Aeshna interrupta) and that her predecessors, the griffinflies, evolved about 350 million years ago in the Palaeozoic Era, about 100 million years before dinosaurs and birds.
The largest species had a wingspan of 71cm (or 28 inches). It was the largest flying insect ever!
Their body plan hasn’t really changed; they’ve just become smaller to adapt to their changing environment.
In 2023, a 75-million-year-old dragonfly fossil was discovered in Dinosaur Provincial Park (near Drumheller, AB). It was the first in Canada!
There are 50 species of dragonflies found in Alberta today.
Want to learn more about dragonflies and other nature phenomena?
Sign up for our ZenSeekers newsletter by August 12, and you'll be entered to win a copy of Sharon Krushel's new nature guidebook, Mother Earth, Boreal Beauty of the Peace Country, with Flora, Fauna, & Fungi ID.
find YOUR zen
Sign up for ZenSeekers enews for local culture & outdoor adventure across Western Canada.
These super aviators can fly about 50 km/hr. Their four wings are controlled with four direct muscles, so they can move independently. They can hover, fly backwards, and perform complex aerial maneuvers in a flash.
A dragonfly’s hind wings are shorter and broader than their forewings. When they are flying forward, the front wings provide lift and the hind wings provide propulsion. When they fly backward, it's the other way around.
A dragonfly has two big, multifaceted compound eyes, each with up to 30,000 tiny lenses called ommatidia, that provide a nearly 360-degree field of vision.
They also have three smaller simple eyes (ocelli) located in a small triangle on top of the dragonfly’s head, to help with orientation, stabilizing flight, and keeping the gaze level.
This highly-advanced, ancient vision system is exceptionally sensitive to motion and perceives a wider range of colours than that of humans, including ultraviolet light.
Dragonflies see much faster than you and me, detecting about 200 images per second (compared to our 60). They process, react to and track prey in milliseconds.
The hunting success rate for these carnivorous characters is pretty much 100 per cent, and, fortunately for us, mosquitoes are a popular menu item!
Biomimicry:
- Dragonflies inspired engineers (e.g. Igor Sikorsky) to study their flight mechanics, influencing helicopter design and rotor stabilization
- Continued research, including their 360° vision, has informed advancements in drone agility and Airbus's autonomous landing technology.
- In the field of optogenetics, scientists have discovered that dragonflies can sense deeper red light because of a special red-sensitive opsin (protein). Near-infrared light can reach deeper tissues without harming the body. Experiments with the opsin involved could lead to advances in studying the brain and treating diseases (earth.com)
"There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
- Albert Einstein
Dragonflies live two different lives in two different worlds. The larval stage can last several years.
After a series of moults, when the nymph crawls out of the water, its exoskeleton cracks open and releases the tightly-packed abdomen, then the four magnificent wings.
The dragonfly's main goals, in the last glorious weeks of its life, are to hunt and reproduce!
I was honoured to attend Beaver First Nation Culture Camp at Two Lakes (Mackenzie County) in 2022. The week was sprinkled with the fairy dust of a multitude of dragonflies around the shore. Some pairs were mating in the air, forming a heart shape called the mating wheel. Elders told me their name for dragonfly is anǫ́ǫ́kode.
Since this serendipitous connection with the Lady of Figure Eight Lake, dragonflies have become, for me, a glistening symbol of transformation, vision, and brilliant possibilities.
I think I might have to get a dragonfly tattoo on my left shoulder to remind myself that “everything is a miracle.”
About the author
Sharon Krushel is the author of Mother Earth, Boreal Beauty of the Peace Country, with Flora, Fauna, & Fungi ID (See MotherEarthBook.ca and her music video “Come by the Hills”).
Sharing the wonder, giving Mother Earth presentations, writing the “Do You Know Your Boreal?” column for Move Up Magazine, and leading hikes for Peace River Adventures are some of her favourite things.
