NGM Blog Central - Dragonflies Take Multi-Generational Journey - National Geographic Magazine

Like monarch butterflies, globe skimmer dragonflies are thought to complete a round-trip over the course of several generations. In other far-traveling species, individuals go the entire distance. Photo: Forrest Mitchell and James Lasswell

Every October millions of dragonflies— mostly the widespread species known as the globe skimmer—begin to arrive in the Maldives, more than 300 miles southwest of India. By year’s end the insects have gone, only to reappear briefly in May. Where do they come from? And where are they headed?

Charles Anderson, a Maldives-based biologist, has 14 years of dragonfly data and an intriguing theory. The insects, which breed in pools of fresh water, appear to follow seasonal rains. Each fall this takes them from India to East Africa via the Maldives and brings them back on a similar route months later—a round-trip distance of some 11,000 miles. If Anderson is right, the globe skimmers’ migration would be the longest of any insect, putting them in the company of other great travelers of the animal world. —A. R. Williams

Posted by National Geographic Staff | Comments (0)
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