urgent dragonfly

[sarah]

i have rescued a dragonfly from the jaws of my cat. It appears uninjured apart from a split at the tip of its wing. It cant fly at all though and has been flexing its body and flapping its wings at speed for some hours now, interspersed with rest periods (when i think it has died). I have given it water and sugar but dont know what else to do for it. should i put it by the pond and leave it to its fate or is there something useful i can do?  :'(

[sarah]

[ceres]

I've often seen them with tattered wings so if it can't fly I think the cat has probably damaged something else.  All you can do is give it a chance and put it somewhere sheltered near the pond.  If it doesn't make it, nature will take it's course.

[sarah]

Thanks Ceres.  He didn't make it in the end. My sister who is more knowledgeable than I said that if it cant fly it will die. Apparently they only live for a week or two anyway, which I didn't know.

[Ninnyscrops.]

So sad but it happens. They spend so long in the pond getting to the stage of flight.



This one was around on pond cleaning day, it had been sprayed with the hose, unwittingly, so I moved it up to the himalayan honeysuckle and it seemed to survive.

Ninny

[Robert_Brenchley]

A large dragonfly can live up to three months or so as an adult, but reproduction, which is the function of the adult, is normally achieved within a couple of weeks. They'll be at the end of their lives now, as the number of flying insects for them to feed on is reducing fast.

[sarah]

that interesting Robert, i didnt realise how much i didnt know about dragonflys.  :)
In the end i kept the dragonfly and my son took it to school and he showed it round the science club and his class.  they were all very keen to see it up close and were surprised how big it was. i was surprised how dull its beautiful green sheen went after its demise.  fascinating thing.