Females lay eggs in or near water; eggs hatch into larvae that remain in water through several moults until ready to emerge as adults. They crawl out of water onto emergent vegetation (usually), and some species can crawl many metres from water to find a safe place to emerge. As the larval skin dries, it splits, and the young adult (teneral) begins to pull itself out, a process that can take hours. Most dragonflies emerge at night or dawn, when they are less vulnerable to predation by birds than during the day. They are usually pale and unmarked; they acquire adult coloring and markings over the next several days (it can take more than a week to reach sexual maturity.) Thus in spring, when most emergences take place, you may find a lot of confusingly-marked dragonflies with intermediate coloring.

A dragonfly can eat food equal to its own weight in about 30 minutes. Which roughly translates into a you trying to eat as much as 100 lb…let alone in half an hour. We don’t eat that amount of food in a week!