Dragonflies have two pairs of flexible, lacelike wings. Although these wings look delicate, they can beat up to 40 times a second and take knocks with a minimal amount of damage. Biologist Robin J. Wootton describes them as “small masterpieces of ingenious design.”

“The better we understand the functioning of insect wings,” he adds, “the more subtle and beautiful their designs appear. . . . They have few if any technological parallels.” Not surprisingly, the dragonfly’s flight techniques are currently being studied by aeronautical engineers.

Many evolutionary scientists consider dragonflies to be the earliest flying insects. One fossil discovered in France is the impression of wings of a dragonfly that had a wingspan of two and a half feet [75 cm]! It is the largest insect known, being more than three times the size of any living dragonfly.