Wait. They eat mosquitos?
How do I attract more of these flying dragons?
Stained Glass
Submitted 8 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/e71b437f-0614-41f0-9d37-0eca79f7bb13.jpeg
Comments
credo@lemmy.world 8 months ago
zerofk@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Breeding mosquitoes should help attract them.
shalafi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Water is your answer my friend.
Never had them in my yard, not that I noticed anyway. Buried and old trash can for a water feature. Bam. Dragonflies.
I have 3 other ponds. One is a $25 Home Depot pond and the other is a thrift-store witch’s cauldron. They all have a couple of goldfish in them, native ater plants, and the trash can pond has a solar cell running a 12V water pump.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Some people even have a little dragonfly on a wire to deter mosquitoes
Diddlydee@feddit.uk 8 months ago
They are also the most successful hunters in the animal kingdom with a ~97% success rate. They don’t know trigonometry, but their brains allow them to calculate where their prey will be and they intercept it.
InvertedParallax@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I mean, most humans don’t really ‘know’ trigonometry, we can still play catch.
7bicycles@hexbear.net 8 months ago
Not with a 97% success rate but I don’t know trigonometry and can do that in war thunder. you just vibe into it
drolex@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Predating dinosaurs: as in ‘predators’ or ‘pre-dating’?
I’m scared.
casmael@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Til dragonflies eat a diet of mosquitoes and dinosaurs 🫨
leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
Definitely the second (by around a hundred million years), probably not the first (some dragonflies were certainly large enough to hunt small flying dinosaurs — i.e., small birds —, but they almost certainly lived one or two hundred million years apart, which would have made the whole affair rather difficult, as dragonflies, as good as they are, can’t yet hunt through time).
Neon@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Or maybe even “previously dating”?
flora_explora@beehaw.org 8 months ago
Hahaha nice!
SanndyTheManndy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I get a metric fuckton of them during the rainy season. Swarms of dragonflies. Needless to say, I do not have a mosquito problem.
Thorry84@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Do yourself a favor and watch this vid about dragonflies, it’s super cool: youtu.be/8i9WMD6xbuA
NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
Hey I was gonna say that
To scrollers: this is a recent video by AlphaPhoenix where he captures footage of dragonflies in slow motion. Some amazing shots in there. Well, one at least.
shalafi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
NICE! Thanks for sharing.
UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Serious question: Has any culture tried breeding these guys to keep mosquitoes at bay? Something like how people kept cats around to reduce the population of mice?
shalafi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Interesting question! I’d guess, however you do it, you could only achieve a temporary uptick in the population. Like any other predator/prey relationship, the ecosystem can only support X predators. After all, the ancient Egyptians could only have so many cats around until they ran out of mice.
Be a pain to breed. They stay underwater as nymphs for 2 years, and that’s 2 years where you gotta keep them from being someone else’s lunch.
SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 8 months ago
And two years underwater only to have them for one month airborne.
meowMix2525@lemm.ee 8 months ago
They also feed on mosquito larvae and hold their own pretty well in the water though.
NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
They’re not cute like cats, so I guess no.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 8 months ago
100? Let’s pump those numbers up my lovelies!
UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 8 months ago
And at one time were 3ft across… wingtip to wingtip
hakase@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
This would be more like un-stained glass than stained glass.
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
How do you un-stain glass?
hakase@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Great question! The answer is that, well, you don’t, but that’s not what I’m intending unstained to mean here.
As it turns out, “unstained” is structurally ambiguous, because English has two different “un-” prefixes, each of which has different functions and different category selection requirements.
The first attaches to verbs, and means “reverse the action of”, e.g. un-tie, un-do, un-stain, etc. The second attaches to adjectives, and means “not X”, e.g. un-happy, un-satisfied, etc.
So, if we want to form the word “undoable”, we can either take the verb “do” and attach “-able” first, giving us an adjective “doable” to which we can then add “un-” to give us “undoable”, an adjective meaning “not able to be done” (“Flying by flapping your arms is undoable”)
OR
We can take “do” and add the other “un-” first, giving us a verb “undo” meaning “to reverse the action of something” to which we can then add the suffix “-able”, giving us “undoable”, a different adjective meaning “able to be undone” (“Simple knots are easily undoable”)So, while both of these look and sound like the same word, they actually have different structures that correspond to the differences in their meanings.
In my OP, you read “unstained” as “unstain-ed”, with “un-” attaching to “stain” to give a verb “unstain” meaning “to reverse the staining of”, and then added the participle suffix, while my intended structure was to attach “stain” and “-ed” first, giving a participle (adjective) “stained”, to which we can then add the other prefix “un-”, giving “un-stained” “not stained”.
AeonFelis@lemmy.world 8 months ago
We really stop killing dragonflies for the stained glass industry.
Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
Dragonflies are a speed 13 unit that you can theoretically build on day 2.
vovo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
#badtopology
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 8 months ago
Well the wing itself isn’t supposed to deform so we’re good! :P
Seriously funny seeing this after trying repeatedly to retopologize simple objects, but making myself stick to quads to build the skills and “poly-perception”…It’s truly maddening and un-fun lol.
Thanks for linking that site further down, by the way. :D
where_am_i@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Turns out when you optimize something for millennia, the truly optimal solution is not a simple grid. That picture is essentially a proof that engineering will always be needed. Because any final solution is complex. Even if it’s parts are trivial.
propter_hog@hexbear.net 8 months ago
odonata stays winning
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Have seena grand total of two on my property this year
Hello_Kitty_enjoyer@hexbear.net 8 months ago
this is not stained class
had me fooled!
P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 8 months ago
This sounds like the intro of a old TV superhero series, it just needs a narrator, then a small montage with music.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 8 months ago
And the Appalachian mountains are even older. Older than trees and sharks.
shalafi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
ahem
I LOVE dragonflies! Getting a tat of one, my first!
If a dragonfly locks onto your happy ass, you’re meat. 95-97% hunt success ratio, highest of any animal on the planet. Strongest flying insect, with 4 independently operating wings. Their head is basically a giant, binocular eyeball, a complete target-seeking combat package.
They do love them some mosquitoes, that’s a fact. Not going to say our swamp in the boonies is mosquito free, but it’s a swamp, it’s loaded with dragonflies, and there ain’t many around. Anything smaller than them, which is to say, everyone else, is fair dinkums. They’ll start horking down on what ever part first fits in those gigantic jaws, alive or dead, no matter. Every watched one eat? Not for the faint of heart. Those jaws are like a squared-off, champing vice. Crazy nasty ass dragonfly, dragonfly don’t care, dragonfly doesn’t give a shit. We got tactical smart missiles, phased plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks… We got dragonflies!
Want to “pet” one? Hold very still and stick your finger out, they’ll eventually use you as a helipad. Woman across the street is a got damned dragonfly whisperer, got a dozen pics of her holding one. Here’s one chillin’ on my wife, rode half a mile upstream with us, our very own combat air patrol.
Anyway, I think dragonflies are kinda cool.
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This feels like a copypasta from a better universe than ours
Empricorn@feddit.nl 8 months ago
This appears bespoke. Subscribe.
dave@feddit.uk 8 months ago
They are super cool and super territorial by all accounts. We were in a pop-up pub in a field and this guy kept coming to sit on our hands. I guess we were in his spot…Common Darter
CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You’ve enlightened me. I love dragonflies too now.
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 8 months ago
Found OP:
Image
xthexder@l.sw0.com 8 months ago
I think Dragonflies are pretty cool too. Thanks for the fun facts!
In return, here is the best dragonfly photo I have taken to date. Image
orivar@programming.dev 8 months ago
Cool!
Here’s my latest: Image
maccentric@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
!Subscribe
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 8 months ago
That was absolutely glorious and insanely witty. I’ve been called witty before and this had me feeling joyfully outclassed. I thought I was in for some crazy copy pasta but it just ended up further educating me on WHY dragonflies are so cool.
(And yeah damselflies, psh. Bugs. Seeing a dragonfly is a GOOD day.)
I hope this becomes a copy pasta. It was legit hilarious and awesome to read.
Dang it I’m really hoping you’re having like *a really good day. * Thanks for writing this. :D
someguy3@lemmy.world 8 months ago
So what do they eat as larvae? Mosquito eggs?
Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 8 months ago
Anything that move and smaller than them, even fish, as they’re ambush predator, by launching their dino-grabber-like mouth part to grab their prey and send it right into their mouth. They also have jet butt. If the adult is the airforce, the nymph is the navy.
meowMix2525@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Yes mosquito larvae is indeed one of the things they eat in the water
Akasazh@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Your writing had a bit of a ‘the oatmeal’ vibe to it. Nice
SinkingLotus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Sounds like you might be interested in reading a manhwa called “Jungle Juice”.
A bug killer spray called “Jungle Juice” is being sold. After using the spray, they gain a “complex”, which essentially turns them into at a human-bug hybrid with whatever they killed. The main character killed a Golden-ringed Dragonfly.
nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz 8 months ago
Could you post some pics of the trashcan? Sounds cool, might want to make one
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
You’re the person that makes me exhale In relief when i am at social gatherings.
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
youtu.be/wFAR3WggSRk
Illecors@lemmy.cafe 8 months ago
That voice acting! Marvelous!
5too@lemmy.world 8 months ago
…I would be very interested in seeing how you describe your hummingbirds!