Is there some elegant learning algorithm in nature that enables this? Maybe. But I don’t think there’s any simplification of the task, that nature has found. For example, I doubt we will find a 100 line algorithm to do the motion the dragonfly did, or a simple physics equation to describe it etc. My intuition, stems from the bitter lesson, a lot of these tasks are irreducibly complex and trying to find elegant simple models, tends to be a waste of time.
Not only are they incredible acrobats but they can eat up to a hundred mosquitos (my least favorite insect) per day with a hunting success rate of 95%.
The other insects that are good fliers, e.g. flies, wasps, bees, certain moths, have evolved towards better flying in a completely different way from dragonflies, and many tens of millions of years later.
The ancestors of dragonflies have developed special muscles that can move separately and accurately each of the 4 wings, allowing exquisite flight control.
All the other good fliers among insects use only the equivalent of two wings, either by reducing one pair of wings, like in flies, or by having a mechanical linkage between the front and back wings, which makes them act like a single pair of wings, like in wasps, bees and fast-flying moths.
Moreover, the other good fliers among insects, unlike dragonflies, do not move directly the wings, but their flying muscles are attached to the thorax and contract it for moving the wings. A system of levers transmits the movement of the thorax to the wings. This also allows the wings to beat at a higher frequency than the frequency at which the nervous system can command the muscular contractions.
Random video https://youtube.com/shorts/-ALXaGRl_g8
“I have lady palms and there are tons of dragonflies that live in them. When I walk by I have 10-15 fly out at any time, babies and adults. I don’t have a water feature but live in Florida where it’s always pretty humid this time of year.”
“ I'm in the Austin area, and have had great success with a very small water feature made from a 90 quart (about 18 gallons) Sterlite storage bin. I dug a hole deep enough to bury it flush to the ground, filled it with large rocks and water. I bought a plant with a tall stalk. Within 2 weeks a great big red dragonfly had claimed the spot as his. I've have them back every year since. Posted a pic DIY back yard dragonfly pool”
We caught some fish and put them in there. They quickly ate the mosquito larvae. In the fall the pool was emptied and the fish released back to the lake.
https://www.science.org/content/article/how-oil-plume-change...
(1999)
https://www.science.org/content/article/partners-science-par...
Still a rare event, and the first usage in a headline.
Not to throw any shade, but this sounds... weird? I mean, missing that they do something you can only see with a high speed camera? OK. But missing that they dip into the water? Would you not at least have watched them for a couple hours if you are "studying" them? At a university?
Oh, I study data structures but I've never measured the access time of a HashMap. Am I being too harsh?
... and you see the water splashing in the video, with the ripples being visible for a bit.
Again, I was not talking about the rotations, just the dragonflies touching/immersing in the water. I just find it incredible no one watched them for 20 minutes at a time apparently?
You may well be curious why it wasn’t noticed sooner, but no specialist will inform you when your approach to them is “So, are you just an idiot compared to me, a random nobody who has thought about your field for all of two minutes?” ;)
It's not that risky, with about a 99.99% success rate. But in their lifespan of a few weeks, they will still be doing thousands of them...
Aging versus cancer is an example of balance: one theory is that age related diseases are a side effect of selection forces against cancer: programmed cell death after X reproductions (telomeres) are a general anti-cancer defence but the cell-death has aging effects. Also beware that selection is for successful reproduction: death after reproduction is not so relevant to evolution.
https://www.xcdsystem.com/sicb/program/fZq6Sh8/index.cfm?pgi...
... click on Search/Filter Program, then search for 'dragonfly'. Note that the results for each day are on separate tabs. The OP research is in at least two presentations.
I don't see a way to link directly to the search results or the presentation pages, which appear in some sort of popup.