The dragonfly, a large airplane-shaped insect that skims across the surface of lakes, ponds, and rivers surely looks dangerous, with a long, thin “stinger” in the back of its body.
But the dragonfly cannot sting. The “stinger” is actually the slender rear part of its body. The only creatures that have to worry about the dragonfly are the mosquitoes and gnats that form its diet.
The dragonfly is among the best flyers on earth. Some kinds remain in the air almost all day long without landing on anything, and can also remain in one spot, or hover, which few other insects can.
Today, the largest dragonflies in America are eight inches long, with a wingspan of seven inches. But in prehistoric times, some dragonflies were two feet across with their wings extended!
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