Origin Stories & Animal Tales... How to Increase your Ecological Awareness Every Week, One Tale at a Time

Grow your ecological understanding and earth empathy the easy way... By reading one engaging tale of intrigue and mystery every week, focused on all the amazing species that inhabit our planet. And that make our planet inhabitable!

Welcome to the first edition of my new LinkedIn Newsletter, celebrating biodiversity as told through the lens of origin stories and animal tales. Because learning should be fun and dynamic ~ not boring, dry, and dismal. And every species on earth is worth saving.

Remember the wonder of childlike discovery, when the world seemed enormous and nature exploded with magical beauty right before your eyes? And every single day you discovered something new and amazing in your own back yard. When you wondered how birds could fly on such delicate wings, or how creatures could breathe underwater? Those seemed like real-world superpowers, equal to any Marvel hero on the silver screen or boob tube.

Did you wonder how grasshoppers made those strange chirping sounds in the tall grass, with twitching antennae that seemed telepathic? And if you pierced their bellies with a fish hook, strange mustard-yellow guts oozed out that seemed downright alien. Or, if your afternoon excavations in the dirt were successful, you found a big fat earthworm whose smooth shiny body wriggled furiously in your palm.

If so, then you're in the right place.

Today we're exploring one of the oldest and most ethereal insects in the world ~ Dragonflies! If they seem ancient and primordial, it's because they are.

Dragonflies evolved on earth over 325 million years ago. From the group Odonta, they are one of the first flying invertebrates to evolve on our planet and make the transition from water onto land. And that's where every dragonfly life begins... as eggs in fresh water, then larvae, that quickly grow into carnivorous nymphs.

Their scientific name is Anisoptera -- and they are the only insect that cannot walk (or slither). They can only fly... But oh my, how they have perfected flight. Backwards, vertically, and in every other direction. They can hover in place like a hummingbird or helicopter, with wings beating 30 times per second. Dragonflies can also accelerate with tremendous speed, zipping this way and that to escape predators (or children). They're capable of flying up to 35mph thanks to four horizontal wings that extend from their thorax.

The tail-like extension from their rear end is actually their abdomen. And their arms slant upward like a basket, which enables them to scoop up their prey. Their lower jaws also reach out and snap prey, pulling them into their mouths, where sharp teeth await, making them highly efficient predators. But don't worry, their teeth cannot pierce human skin.

Their diet is Insectivore -- making them our best friends in hot summer months. They eat solely insects, especially the pesky kinds that humans hate. Mosquitos, flies, gnats, and midges. If you play NY Times Wordle, you'll remember that 'midge' was a recent word, and difficult one at that (if you're not a gardener or entomologist).

Dragonflies look fierce with very sharp teeth to match, which shred small bugs like an angry T-Rex and consume up to 100 mosquitos in a single day. As nymphs, they hunt aquatic insects like mosquito larvae, sometimes cannibalize other dragonfly larvae, and even hunt small fish.

They have compound eyes so large they nearly touch -- with 28,000 single eyes (called ommatidia) that give them nearly 360 degree vision! Which aids in evasion.

A "mating wheel" is how they copulate, often in flight... When a male and female lock their bodies together, they form the shape of a heart to mate. The male must first transfer his sperm from his abdomen to his penis, and then inject them into the female's abdomen. She then deposits the inseminated eggs into fresh water, where they hatch in only 7-8 days. Then grow into larvae and develop into juvenile nymphs.

Nymphs spend up to 3 years in the water, hunting, eating, swimming... The simple life. Before they can mature into adults and ascend into terrestrial life, nymphs will molt 6-15 times over the course of 12 hours, before they're able to leave the water.

Adult dragonflies live only one month on land, feasting on insects and buzzing around, if they're so lucky. Because dragonflies make tasty prey for birds and fish, and are an important link in the proverbial food chain.

Scientists consider Dragonflies a reliable Bio-Indicator Species. Because they require stable oxygen levels in water to survive and breed, they represent an invaluable measure of healthy marine environments.

There are over 7,000 species of dragonflies on earth today -- but at least 10% of these species are threatened with extinction. That may not sound like much, but their survival is linked to larger webs of biodiversity, especially in fresh water habitats (both moving and still), which are some of the most polluted waters on earth. They are threatened due to habitat loss (linked to urban development), environmental pollution, and invasive vegetation.

Their habitat range covers every single continent on the planet, with the exception of Antarctica. When they swarm as a group, they are called a "cluster" -- a frightening Hitchcockian image indeed. But remember....

Dragonflies are our earthly allies. If you want to encourage dragonfly populations in your garden, there are easy ways to invite these ancient insects into your home. Firstly, they are attracted to water sources... Install a small water feature in your garden for laying eggs. Note they prefer sources about 2 feet deep. Different species prefer moving water and still pools.

Secondly, plant vegetation in and around the water source to provide habitat for nymphs and larvae. This also gives adults a place to perch, roost, and rest nearby. Floating or emerging vegetation (partially submerged plants), also give nymphs a path to exit the water, and adults a place to perch and deposit their eggs.

Include Pollinator Plants in your landscape! This is one of the most important steps for not only dragonflies, but ALL beneficial insects -- damselflies, ladybugs, bumblebees, mason bees, leafcutters, moths, butterflies, and ants. Just to name a few...

See? Learning about biodiversity can be really fun, quick, and quite easy. And knowledge is sexy! Because there can never be a thing as too much knowledge about our fragile ecosystems here on earth. We need all insects healthy, and desperately, to survive as a species ourselves. To do so, we've got to protect our waters and our soils, from the ground up.

As a former Garden Educator, and current Master Gardener, I know firsthand that children are innately wired and eager to learn all about biodiversity. They want to support environmental stewardship of the planet they will soon inherit.

It behooves the ever-busy adult population to set aside some time, energy, and assets to learn about nature, so that we may better protect and restore the natural environment for the next generation -- our children. That is my mission as a writer. And if you're reading this far, it's probably an aspiration of your own.

The purpose of my content and this newsletter, is to enable, inform, and engage the dedicated audience of human beings on LinkedIn to embrace all species as worth saving. That means protecting all habitats, restoring degraded landscapes, curbing pollution, and getting engaged with how we spend our money. This informs the type of products we purchase, the causes we support, and especially, how we nourish and nurture our own bodies through diet, hydration, exercise, health, beauty, and sleep.

If you enjoyed reading this origin story about dragonflies, I invite you to subscribe to my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn -- I promise to deliver one enchanting (relatively painless) article a week to increase your ecological awareness and knowledge on the importance of biodiversity. Moreover, I hope to renew your hope that protecting biodiversity is imperative to save our planet from destruction and help reverse climate change.

After all, our kids are worth it. Aren't they?