Sex and Identity Among Red Dragonflies
A Summertime Drama of Survival and Deception
NO MATTER how uncertain our lives, how troubled our politics, even how dire or existential the threats to humanity, at least one thing is reliable and wonderful across much of the world right now: the red dragonflies of summer.
Named “meadowhawks” or “darters,” depending on where you live, they dash and hunt and pose in meadows, at ponds and wetlands, even beside watery roadside ditches. All of which would be routine and audacious enough for dragonflies — and for us. But there’s even more to meadowhawks and darters: a drama of subterfuge and sexual identity worthy of Shakespeare. And it’s almost certainly being acted out on stage near you.
