Dragonfly nymphs

Dragonfly nymphs are rarely more than a few cm long, but they are as voracious as the big predators on the African savannah. Depending on the species, they can spend several years hunting anything that moves in a pond, catching their prey with a toothed mouthpart known as a mask, which sits under the head and can be quickly extended to grab anything that moves, including tadpoles and small fish.

In the early summer, you can experience a fantastic nature performance in the Bøtø area – although on a tiny scale – when the dragonfly nymphs transform from one of the pond’s deadliest predators to airborne hunters.

Keep your eyes peeled and you might find the empty skins from dragonfly nymphs, attached to reeds, cattails and willow twigs, left from where they crawled up to undergo their final transformation to adult dragonflies. The newly hatched adults often need to spend a long time pumping up their wings to full size and to harden, so you’ll have time to study all the stages of the transformation.