Creature Feature VII: Dragonflies and Other Flies

Here is my next piece for Creature Feature, on the predatory behaviour of dragonflies and the importance of chance in determining the outcome of their hunting attempts. 

I adore photographing dragonflies, but am lazy about identifying them. Here are some of my favourite photos, and maybe someday I’ll get around to IDing these creatures as well.

Finally, I just realised that I’ve never linked to the actual scientific papers on which my pieces are based. The research described in this column is from Harvard’s own Stacey Combes! Here’s the paper, titled “Linking biomechanics and ecology through predator–prey interactions: flight performance of dragonflies and their prey.”