Revealed the secret of dragonflies flight backwards

Revealed the secret of dragonflies flight backwards

Scientists have dealt with the ability of dragonflies to fly in any direction. It turned out that traffic backs they lean forward, taking an almost vertical position, allowing you to move in that direction as effectively as head first. The results of the study outlined in the journal of The Royal Society Interface.

Due to the exceptional ability to fly dragonflies occupy a niche of aerial predators among invertebrates. They can hover in one place, fly upside down, sharply to spin 360°, and some species are accelerated up to 55 miles per hour. Moreover, they are able to move backwards.

In the new work, scientists caught more than 40 of dragonflies, caused them to label the special wings and watched the spacecraft they fly, using high-speed camera.

It turned out that to fly backwards dragonflies tips the case back, as well as it is done from helicopters. In addition, it was found that, by moving backward, dragonflies stronger unfold wings while swinging upwards than when moving forward.

Another advantage of the vertical position of the body is that in this case, when the flap is up you can develop a much greater speed, resulting in the dragonfly to develop the aerodynamic force, reaching values of two to three weight of the animal.

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The results imply that dragonflies can fly backwards for a long time. The researchers also studied their ability to start from any position, which is convenient in case of appearance of obstacles or other threats. The authors hope that their study will help create a more agile aerial robots, perhaps even able to fly backwards.

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