Dragonfly

Dragonfly is one of the insect that easy to find in our environment, such us in the wet rice field, in the garden or in our yard. Dragonfly classify in Ordonata family which has several name depend on the region; Déndén (Aceh), Kinjeng (Java), and Pepatong (Sunda). It has more than 5000 species around the world. Dragonflies are carnivore. This insect can fly about 30-90 km/hour and can do several of the air maneuvers. Other interesting thing is the 360° eyes, because it consists of thousand lenses which make it can see all direction. When married period, the dragonflies’ couple clinging to each other formed the image of love while flying at the same time.

Dragonflies are an insect that can’t live far away from the water, especially from the stage of egg to the prior to adult. Dragonflies place their eggs on the plants which are in the water. The metamorphosis of dragonfly is the egg stage, larva stage, nymph stage, and the last is adult stage. The life cycles from the egg to the adult stage is about 6 month or the maximal is 6-7 years.

            Nowadays, the dragonflies are rarely found around us. Even it is in the wet rice field or near our house. The population is not as much as in the past. We have to work hard to find it now. According to the Worldwild Dragonfly Association, the Indonesian dragonfly is on the list of the nearly extinct insects. It is because of the water or the habitat of dragonflies now in a bed quality and began to disappear. And several dragonflies also very sensitive with the unclear air, they need a clean and fresh environment. In fact, there are a lot of deforestations that make the water flow was destroyed. As we know that the forest is the water supplier. It is supply the water to the river where there are many of the dragonfly’s habitats commonly found. Another cause is people, now, use pollutant things such as Surfactant in detergent, soap, shampoo, etc.  And the industries throw away the waste to the rivers. It is very unfortunate, because dragonfly is really important to keep the environment sustainability. It can be predator for the mosquito larva and when it became adult, it can save the plant from pest, such as ticks, grasshopper and moles.

            There are several things that can we do to save dragonflies from the extinction. First, we can make a special are for the clean water before it flow to the sea. Then, we can make moats and do water saving; use the clean water only for important thing such as cook or take a bath, use the residual water to pour the plants.