"The Mystical Center - Up Close"
18 x 24 x 1 1/1 Oil on Canvas
$400
So there are in fact a few more differences between Damselflies and Dragonflies which I will mention now since I started that topic in the last post... A damselfy's eyes are usually positioned on the side of it's head whereas a dragonfly's are so close together that they are nearly touching. The most fascinating part of their eyes is that they are compound and this, so it is claimed by scientist, is their only sense organ to detect their prey. What does that mean compound eye, you ask? Well, as explained in Dragonflies by Cynthia Berger, the eyes are composed of smaller subunits, called ommatidia, or facets. There may be up to thirty thousand of these per eye since the eyes nearly wrap around the whole head and each facet faces a slightly different direction and resolves a separate image. That means that a dragonfly can see in nearly every direction simultaneously. Talk about having eyes in the back of your head!
Another interesting factor of their eye facets is that they respond independently to stimuli. Furthermore, fast movements that would appear as blurs to us humans appear clear to the dragonfly. How this is known I can not answer.
The most fascinating part about their eyes is that they four or five proteins in the retina which allows them to see ultraviolet lights. They can also see the polarization of light. Allegedly, neither of these are visible to humans since they only have three proteins. Apparently this may help them to navigate and identify bodies of water.
Wow! No time for the mating lesson. I will continue you that next time....really!
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