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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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Was this kind of behavior widespread?

Ha! It is certainly nothing I have not seen before several times. The female usually isn't flying though and does not crash into the ground but simply goes to sleep. However, the sleep is commonly mistaken for death.

1 posted on 04/30/2017 4:17:22 PM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: Sequoyah101

This is going to be a fun thread


2 posted on 04/30/2017 4:18:40 PM PDT by DocRock (And now is the time to fight! Peter Muhlenberg)
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To: Sequoyah101

Fake Snews.


3 posted on 04/30/2017 4:20:13 PM PDT by Right Brother
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To: Sequoyah101

Dragon Flies call it fake death, humans call it frigid, either way, its the same thing.


4 posted on 04/30/2017 4:20:44 PM PDT by Uncle Sam 911
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To: DocRock

LOL. Haven’t we all. We still love you guys, though!


5 posted on 04/30/2017 4:21:10 PM PDT by blackbetty59
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To: DocRock

Not today, Honey. I have a terminal headache.


6 posted on 04/30/2017 4:21:16 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberalism: Intolerance masquerading as tolerance, Ignorance masquerading as Intelligence)
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To: Sequoyah101

Is this a universal behavior for all living female creatures???


7 posted on 04/30/2017 4:21:20 PM PDT by Uncle Sam 911
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To: Sequoyah101

Well at least she doesn’t EAT the male after they DO IT..like the Mantis does..


8 posted on 04/30/2017 4:24:27 PM PDT by Paul46360 (What??ME worry?)
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To: Sequoyah101

Otherwise known as noassatall..


9 posted on 04/30/2017 4:25:33 PM PDT by CMailBag
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To: Uncle Sam 911
THAT'S why strip clubs were invented.....

Will sit here and wait for the backlash..

10 posted on 04/30/2017 4:26:13 PM PDT by Paul46360 (What??ME worry?)
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To: Sequoyah101

As James Bond would say...”she’s just dead”


11 posted on 04/30/2017 4:26:22 PM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (FUMSM)
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To: Paul46360

With humans, that part only comes after the divorce.


12 posted on 04/30/2017 4:26:31 PM PDT by Bob (Damn, the democrats haven't been this upset since Republicans freed their slaves.)
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To: Bob

NICE...very good.


13 posted on 04/30/2017 4:27:37 PM PDT by Paul46360 (What??ME worry?)
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To: Sequoyah101

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....I’m SLEEPING....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


14 posted on 04/30/2017 4:29:19 PM PDT by LydiaLong
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To: Sequoyah101

Funny. I only thought human males faked their deaths to get away from women.


15 posted on 04/30/2017 4:31:29 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: RckyRaCoCo

Or Star Trek Bones: she’s not dead, Jim.


16 posted on 04/30/2017 4:32:49 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: RckyRaCoCo

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.


17 posted on 04/30/2017 4:32:54 PM PDT by Battle Axe (Repent, for the Lord is coming.)
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To: Sequoyah101

Birds do it,
Bees do it.


18 posted on 04/30/2017 4:35:40 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Sequoyah101

That is what Bill Cosby looks for.


19 posted on 04/30/2017 4:40:18 PM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: DocRock; Lazamataz

Was Laz involved in this?


20 posted on 04/30/2017 4:40:20 PM PDT by Laslo Fripp (The Sybil of Free Republic)
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