Here Be Dragons

• In this photo, you can see how the mask covering the face is actually a shovel for stuffing prey into the nymph's mouth. Which makes it slightly less cute.
  The mask is made up the lower "lip", or Labium, of the dragonfly. At rest it is folded under the head and thorax between the legs.
  Photo © Jan Hamrsky.

Want to time travel? Stand at the edge of some fresh water. Dragonflies are ancient insects — they look remarkably unchanged from fossils of the Paleozoic Era (350 million years ago). They are sometimes described as “paleopterous“, or “old wings”. These antique predators of the sky are actually just the final form of a much stranger creature.

Right now, while much of the above-ground land in North America is chilly or frozen, life goes on in ponds, lakes, and streams all around you. Here be dragons. Predatory underwater dragons that breathe through their anus, use their rectum for jet propulsion, and have hydraulic-powered grabby mouthparts.