A drowning immature dragonfly being eaten alive.

Some water skates attacked a helpless little dragonfly.

Some dragonflies live for a long time underwater as nymphs, and when they emerge, then they live for only a few months.

This little one was very young and it looked like a female Red-veined Dropwing (Trithemis arteriosa).
I have a new habit to zoom the smaller stuff like leaves and algae that float on a pond's surface. Let me tell you that it is paying off, as now I get to see and share the smaller lives that I discover. A whole new world and of course nature's rules and laws are also on display, as predators are plenty to see in action. So, come and join me in what I experienced when I saw all of this in here below.

This was how it all started, as I zoomed this leaf floating towards me on the water.

We could see that a dragonfly was holding on to the stem of the leaf, but even worse were the two active water skates sitting on it.

Then as the leaf came closer, I was able to get some overhead shots, and yes, the water skates were nibbling on the dragonfly. A closer look told me that the dragonfly was still alive, as I saw its legs moving.

So, my wife passed me a stick, and I lifted the dragonfly out of the water.

I laid the dragonfly down on the kerb of the pool to dry out, and I saw it move, so it was alive.

Yep! Look at this, as it was definitely still alive.

So, to prevent the dragonfly from trying to fly and ending up in the water again, I took it to place it on the leaf of a nearby bush.

A worry is that kink near the end of the dragonfly's tail, as I think that's where one of the water skates bit it.

So, it was saved and set free and now we can only hope that it will survive as it stayed sitting on that leaf for a time and we left it there. I have shown you in a previous post how the water skates were eating the body of a dead damselfly, but this time they were not going to get away by eating this little dragonfly. I mentioned that the laws and rules of nature are also at play in the lives of the smaller insects, and nothing goes to waste in nature, as there is always a line of predators that need to be fed.
This is just the way of nature.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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