With delicate wings and tiny, colourful bodies, dragonflies don’t immediately spring to mind when thinking of predators. However, during the  300 million years they’ve been on earth, they’ve developed ways of becoming highly successful predators. If you consider their hunting success rates, they score a massive 95%, compared to a Great White Shark with an average rate of 50% and a lion with 40%.

Dragonflies have the largest eyes of all insects and this is the key to their success as predators. Blue skies appear very bright to their eyes which are sensitive to blue light, and their prey – tiny insects – are seen as dark silhouettes against the brightness of the sky. Dragonflies also see much faster than a humans, effectively seeing the world in slow motion. Whereas a human can see roughly 60 images/second, dragonflies can see approximately 200 images/second and their reaction times are much faster too.

Daffodil met someone who was very good at seeing things the average person was unaware of. If you’d like to find out more, you can purchase the ebook ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’ on the Muse It Up Publishing website, here #MuseItUp