Female Dragonflies Will Literally Play Dead to Avoid Unwanted Male Dragonfly Advances

Talk about a spirit animal, amirite? HAhahaahahahhA. Help.
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Rassim Khelifa of the University of Zurich in Switzerland observed an interesting behavior of female moorland hawker dragonflies while collecting their larvae in the Swiss Alps recently, the New Scientist reports. While being doggedly and involuntarily pursued by male dragonflies, females would “drop out of the sky” and play dead until the males moved on.

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“I was surprised,” Khelifa told the site. He’d never seen this behavior in his 10 years of studying the insect. He elaborated the females would lie completely still on their backs until the male flew away; they then would continue about their business.

Khelifa noted that of 27 play-dead attempts, 21 of the female dragonflies were successful in shaking off her male pursuer. New Scientist reports when they were successful, “[they'd] often act dramatically when [they'd] emerge.”

Adolfo Cordero-Rivera of the University of Vigo in Spain agreed with Khelifa’s findings and said, “Females may only behave in this way if male harassment is intense.”

Read the findings in full here. And come up with the jokes yourself. It’s too easy not to.