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Female dragonflies fake death to avoid lusting males
New Atlas ^ | April 28, 2017 | Nick Layars

Posted on 04/30/2017 4:17:22 PM PDT by Sequoyah101

Rassim Khelifa was standing by a pond in the Swiss Alps collecting insect eggs one day, when he noticed something strange. A dragonfly being hotly pursued by another suddenly took a dive and crashed to the ground, seemingly dead on the spot, before springing back to life and making a grand escape once the coast was clear. The observations that followed confirmed a previously unknown phenomenon – the insect had faked its death to give a wannabe lover the slip.

Khelifa, a biologist at the University of Zurich, had spent the summers of 2014 and 2015 gathering the eggs of dragonflies and damsel flies at ponds in the Swiss Alps, with the aim of running experiments on larval response to temperature. But his chance encounter with these would-be mates lured his curiosity in a different direction – was this kind of behavior widespread?

(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...


TOPICS: Gardening; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: dragonflies
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To: Sequoyah101
Rassim wasn't the first to notice this kind of behavior.

Dragonflies Strange Love April 2006

Grab, shake, bite, puncture, punch—that's just the courtship ritual of these dazzling aerobats.

Females, for their part, attempt to escape this boorish behavior by flipping, zigzagging, spiraling upward or downward, submerging in water, fleeing at high speed, or fighting back, sometimes murderously.


41 posted on 04/30/2017 6:00:16 PM PDT by TigersEye (Make up my mind, NBC,CBS,CNN,ABC. What are the "facts" today?)
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To: oldvirginian

When they look like Christie Brinkley they can wash and set their hair several times a day.


42 posted on 04/30/2017 6:02:41 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: Tucker39

75%? That low?


43 posted on 04/30/2017 6:03:32 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: Sequoyah101

It must be easier for her than pulling her wedding ring back out of her pocket and putting it back on.


44 posted on 04/30/2017 6:20:40 PM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: tgusa

“So, now I know who was dating my GF. You poor b***ard.”

At least I didn’t marry her!
I married a whole nother kind of crazy the first go round.


45 posted on 04/30/2017 6:30:35 PM PDT by oldvirginian (Government is at best a necessary evil, at worst a millstone around the neck of the citizenry.)
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To: Sequoyah101

“When they look like Christie Brinkley they can wash and set their hair several times a day.”

But at least Christie put out....if you had enough cash.


46 posted on 04/30/2017 6:33:01 PM PDT by oldvirginian (Government is at best a necessary evil, at worst a millstone around the neck of the citizenry.)
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To: Sequoyah101

I’ve not experienced this phenomenon personally. That figger is just part of the rumors some guys toss around down at the hangout.


47 posted on 04/30/2017 6:53:45 PM PDT by Tucker39 (In giving us The Christ, God gave us the ONE thing we desperately NEEDED; a Savior.)
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To: DocRock
Typical female bug reply: "I can't. I have to wash my antennae." (click)
48 posted on 04/30/2017 7:17:38 PM PDT by rlmorel (President Donald J. Trump ... Making Liberal Heads Explode, 140 Characters at a Time)
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To: RckyRaCoCo

49 posted on 04/30/2017 7:43:50 PM PDT by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: Paul46360
"Well at least she doesn’t EAT the male after they DO IT..like the Mantis does..


50 posted on 04/30/2017 7:44:12 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: Battle Axe
"I have observed a dragonfly using a human as bait. Dragonflies feed on mosquitoes, but they have to catch them. So they hang around humans as the humans attract the mosquitoes...I know of many a small child to go screaming in the house as the darner needles (dragonflies) were after them. When in fact the dragonflies were doing the children a favor by eating the mosquitoes.

By some estimates, a single dragonfly can eat around 100 mosquitoes a day. They are definitely one of the good bugs.

51 posted on 04/30/2017 7:48:00 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: fidelis

52 posted on 04/30/2017 7:50:27 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: Sequoyah101

Females of all species have been doing a variation of this theme since creation.


53 posted on 04/30/2017 7:50:54 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: Sequoyah101

Will necrophilia evolve as a survival technique?


54 posted on 04/30/2017 8:10:19 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity - Pres. Eisenhower)
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To: Sequoyah101

Nothing new. Jewish wives have been doing this for thousands of years.


55 posted on 04/30/2017 9:39:35 PM PDT by Wilderness Conservative (Nature is the ultimate conservative.)
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To: Sequoyah101

Well, that explains all the dragonflies in my car’s grille.........................


56 posted on 05/01/2017 8:02:49 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: Sequoyah101

She was sleeping - had a headache...


57 posted on 05/01/2017 8:04:28 AM PDT by GOPJ (Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out... - - Horowitz)
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To: Sequoyah101; 100American; al baby; Allegra; BufordP; EveningStar; Gefn; GunsareOK; JRios1968; ...

A much, MUCH belated DANG!

Animals are great!

(I’m sure at least one of FR’s self-appointed hall monitors considers this a sexist, misogynist post, since people might be critical of female dragonflies for this behavior. Personally, I can’t blame them, since male dragonflies are apparently quite rape-y.)


58 posted on 09/06/2019 3:05:52 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
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