Articles

The Design of the Dragonfly

By Eric Lyons

If your teacher gave you an assignment to write a fictional (make-believe) story about how you lived one day of your life as an insect, and you could choose whatever insect you wanted to be, which one would you pick? Would you like to live underground like the 17-year cicada, eat cotton all day like the boll weevil, or work tirelessly like a busy bee? If I were given such an assignment, I’d pick the dragonfly.

Dragonflies are amazing creatures. Often found around ponds, lakes, and rivers, the dragonfly’s ability to fly is second to none. Not only can dragonflies dash forward at speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour, they can fly backwards, straight up, and straight down. God designed the dragonfly so well that when humans began making helicopters in the mid 1900s, they looked to this insect for inspiration. In face, one of the very first helicopters produced was named Dragonfly.

The more scientists study dragonflies, the more they are impressed with their flying ability. One Australian scientist, who has studied dragonflies at length in the past few years, stated that while chasing its prey, “dragonflies shadow their enemies in complex maneuvers that military fighter pilots can only dream of. Their tricks create the visual illusion that they’re not moving.” Just think if a military fighter pilot could fly toward his enemy without the opposition realizing that he was moving. Who wouldn’t love to have such technology? Governments would pay billions of dollars in order to have this kind of ability.

Amazingly, the information that scientists and governments would love to have is stored in the tiny brain and body of a dragonfly—an insect that evolutionists believe evolved through time by chance millions of years ago. The truth is, however, time and chance do not and cannot account for the amazing design found in insects like the dragonfly. If no one considers the helicopter as the product of time and chance, why would any reasonable person believe that the animal that scientists have tried to copy evolved?

Truly, dragonflies were designed by God and show us His wisdom. They did not evolve from or into anything else which is exactly what the fossil record shows. Dragonflies have always been the wonderfully designed bugs they are today.

Discovery Magazine November 2004 pg. 88