Do dragonflies bite or sting humans and can they be dangerous? | Discover Wildlife
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Can dragonflies bite? Can dragonflies sting? Are dragonflies dangerous? They're all common questions, and we've got all the answers!

there was a dragonfly trying to run into the windows at my work that got caught in a spider web in the process and it bit me when I was trying to save it >:(

googled to see if it was a bite or a sting and yep! the bloody bastard bit me, how rude.

Dragonflies do bite, and they will bite humans, but only if you catch one and it’s trying to escape or defend itself. And only the largest dragonflies will be able to break your skin anyway.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish
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    2 days ago

    I was hiking with my grandson and the trail was post-rain and chock full of mosquitoes. We stopped for a breather and were talking face to face, our heads about a foot apart, mosquitoes everywhere. Just then a dragonfly slow flew right between our eyes and we both saw his “wing flutter” pulling tens of mosquitoes into his “wake” and just sucking them up like popcorn. It was cool to see.

  • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyzEnglish
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    3 days ago

    I was flying my paramotor one morning in Florida. I didn’t notice it at the time, but something caught my eye while editing the video from my helmet camera. It was a dragonfly at somewhere around 1100-1300 ft AGL.

    No idea what it was doing up there.

  • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
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    3 days ago

    Ohh yes! I told everyone that dragonfly do bite and no one believe me! Decades ago a dragonfly land on my finger and i thought it’s kinda cute, then it suddenly bite me and i have to yeet it away in shock.

  • cholesterol@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 days ago

    Once as a kid I ran my hand through some leaves on a tree, and a large dragonfly clamped down on the fleshy part between the thumb and the index. I shook my hand violently and looked at it. Fucker’s whole body was torn off, but the head was still there, just biting me. Shook again and it was gone. Fucking traumatic.

      • cholesterol@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        2 days ago

        No…? It bit me before anything else. Unless you count touching leaves as part of ‘the process’ of decapitating it.

  • audaxdreik@pawb.socialEnglish
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    3 days ago

    I used to work at a pet store and we’d get big cartons of crickets for reptile food. If you’ve ever purchased them from Petco/PetSmart it’s just a garbage bin in the back room with some egg crate in it.

    Anyways, they shipped with potato slices and other things to help sustain them but they were usually pretty savage by the time you opened the box to add them to the bins. Surprised me the first time I got my arms covered in them and they started munching away. Didn’t hurt at all, they’re crickets, but boy were they trying. Dozens of little cricket mouths gently pinching away. I just kinda stood there dumbfounded like are you for serious little dudes??

  • Albbi@piefed.caEnglish
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    3 days ago

    How painful was the bite? I’m guessing worse than mosquito, but less than a bee sting?

    • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
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      3 days ago

      It feels like a sharp pinch, very mild pain but if you didn’t see it coming it can be a shock. They do have powerful mandible to bite off insect. Definitely less painful than fire ant bite or wasp sting.

      Though i might have high pain tolerance and thicker skin on my finger

    • dregan@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 days ago

      It probably depends on the size. I got bit by a fairly large one as a kid and it hurt like hell.

  • pool_spray_098@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 days ago

    I used to be pretty scared of dragonflies as a kid.

    My older brother told me that the back part of their body was all stinger. He said if you piss them off they’ll sting you and the stinger can go in one side of your wrist and come out the other.

    Scared the fucking shit out of me.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 days ago

      My older brother told me that the back part of their body was all stinger.

      sounds like a big brother thing to say.

  • systemglitch@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 days ago

    I’ve saved hundreds of these guys from drowning as a kid. They would dry off on me, look at me, somehow looked very grateful and then fly away.

    I was never bitten and I have held so many. I love them. Good karma.