A school friend celebrated her birthday by inviting us to the cinema. This time it was the premiere of Bernardo and Bianca. The Disney animated film followed the adventures of two little mice as they followed clues with the help of animals from a swamp to save an orphan (Penny) from the evil Madame Medusa, who needed her to find a valuable diamond. That was among the animals character the dragonfly, which, with frantic flapping of its wings, managed to drive a small leaf at full speed that served as a boat for the mice. Evinrude, that’s what it was called. My father had managed to capture it perfectly with his drawing talent and at my request he filled in white sheets of paper with a pencil using a variety of skills. He liked his name, Evinrude., because it was precisely a well-known brand of outboard motors.
I, who used to be afraid of insects, finally took a liking to the marshals: I saved her from them Bathroom sink when they accidentally fell and I grew up with the idea that a summer sky full of rainwater was a sure sign that a storm was approaching. When I saw them flying around the garden in flocks, I checked the other home weather service that was available in many Argentinean homes. It was homethe little boat of time“: a solid glass figurine that represented a schooner of extremely dubious taste and that changed color on its shelf depending on the weather. It changed from blue to violet and pink. It was not allowed to be touched, otherwise it would lose its magic and no longer indicate whether it was raining or a sunny day. I think it was more due to the semi-viscous substance that covered it, and who knows what it was made of and whether it was healthy for a child to touch it and then hands So I limited myself to watching him every day to see if the prediction he had predicted with his changing colors would come true, especially when the waterfowl were flying in the garden.
I always thought marshals were the insects with a more robust body and dragonflies were the other, very similar but much thinner and more stylized bodies, ending in a turquoise tail (almost like a semi-precious stone) which I was supposed to carefully catch between two fingers, attracted by its striking colors and more innocent appearance. Well, it seems that waterfowl and dragonflies are the same thing. The second is called the “reef dragonfly” and is another species that can also be recognized by the fact that when at rest it leaves its wings folded vertically, while the marshals (or dragonflies) leave them fully extended. In any case, The wings of the Odonata, the order of insects with more than 6,000 species of dragonflies and dragonflies, are a fascinating work of bioengineering. They seem to be designed through the air. Membranes so thin they’re transparent, ribs that are calligraphic lines, essentially a secret map where biology learned what human engineering still envies: strength without weight and rigidity without clumsiness. Up close, they are almost movable stained glass windows.
But what about dragonflies and the forecast of rain I grew up with? Is there any scientific basis for all of this, or do they have the same predictive power in popular culture as an aunt’s old bones? The answer doesn’t seem to be positive, but it’s not a clear no either. I immerse myself in the world of an aquatic entomologist who calls herself The Dragonfly Woman and he writes precisely about the behavior of odonates in response to meteorology. Dragonflies – those ancient aerial acrobats that fly over wetlands and ponds – are not just poetic symbols of summer: Their climate behavior is real and backed by scientific data. Basically they fly on warmer days and not when it’s cold. They are excellent fliers, but not so good that they can survive torrential rain, which would negatively affect their aerodynamics and visibility. Dragonflies in particular are not encouraged to fly in strong winds, and dragonflies cope better with their more robust bodies. Before it rains, they leave the body of water near which they live and stop flying.
And the air pressure in relation to the rain? Is it possible that they perceive it? My new invisible friend, The Dragonfly Woman, Report of a Russian scientist who published a paper in the 1960s proposing a connection between air pressure and the behavior of dragonflies, but rejected the paper for lack of evidence. But others say so When the air becomes heavy and humid, many insects – including dragonflies – change their activity, and that coincides with conditions that normally precede rain. It is more likely that the flight of the dragonflies is due to this There are more low-flying insects available for them to feed on, resulting in a change in their hunting behavior.
I now live in a place where I see treetops and large swathes of blue sky, as well as approaching storms with thick, gray clouds that turn summer days into dark nights in a matter of minutes. But Before the storm hits, much earlier, when the sky is still blue and only the weather forecast says so, I decide to believe these sheriffs. They will clearly bring rain. At least until I find academic papers that tell me otherwise.
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