"Dragonflies rocket across the upper strata of the pondscape, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. Their four wings move independently, so they can switch between two flight modes: out of sync for lift and twists, or nearly in sync for bursts of speed. Even when they touch down, they keep their wings outstretched, ready to go. Damselflies sit and wait with wings folded neatly along their backs, on the lookout for prey."
"But they each see the world differently. How would you like a pair of these babies? Damselfly eyes are dichoptic: two separate eyes, like us. But these wide-set eyes give damselflies an ultra-panoramic view! From a perch, they lock in on their prey. Just like humans, their brains compare two slightly different images to calculate distance and depth. And boom-they snatch their prey with precision."
Dragonflies rocket across upper pond strata, reaching up to 30 miles per hour. Their four wings move independently and switch between out-of-sync flapping for lift and twisting and near-synchronous flapping for speed bursts. They perch with wings outstretched, ready for immediate flight. Damselflies fold wings along their backs and hover close to vegetation, requiring nimble control to fly in turbulent, plant-churned air. Wind-tunnel tests reveal damselflies maintain stability by rapidly tweaking the flapping of each wing. Both groups have compound eyes; damselflies possess wide-set dichoptic eyes for ultra-panoramic binocular depth perception, while dragonflies possess holoptic, nearly 360-degree vision for omnidirectional detection and interception.
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