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By Dr. Robert Norman, Clinical Professor, Dermatology, Nova Southeastern University
While reading the book An Immense World by Ed Yong I came to a part about dragonflies and vision. I have an enormous interest in Dragonflies and have probably photographed them over 3000 times.
In one section of the book, Yong describes “critical flicker fusion frequency,” also called CFF. If you look at a light that flickers on and off, as the flickering gets faster, there will be a point when the flash merges into a steady glow. CFF is a measure of how quickly a brain can process visual information. It’s like the frame rate of the movie playing inside an animal’s head when all the static images blend into the illusion of continuous motion. In good light, human CFF is around 60 frames per second.
Dragonflies, honeybees and flies have CFF‘s between 200 and 350. A dragonfly doesn’t see as much detail as a human can, but its eyes and brain are extremely sensitive to motion. They can detect movements separated by 1/300th of a second! To a dragonfly, a movie might look like a series of still pictures. Dragonflies have binocular vision, so they can judge distances.
Dragonflies can see in all 360 degrees around it and nearly 80 percent of the insect’s brain is dedicated to its sight.
Predatory insects like dragonflies have large high resolution eyes with distinctive acute zones. As they pursue their targets, they turn their heads to keep the prey within the sharpest part of their visual field. Dragonflies hunt against the sky, spotting the silhouettes of prey that fly above them. It turns out dragonflies have souped-up color vision that’s better than anything ever seen in the animal world.
We humans have what’s known as tri-chromatic vision, which means we see colours as a combination of red, blue and green. This is thanks to three different types of light-sensitive proteins in our eyes, called opsins. We are not alone: di-, tri- and tetra-chromatic vision is de rigueur in the animal world, from mammals to birds and insects. Enter the dragonfly. A study of 12 dragonfly species has found that each one has no fewer than 11, and some a whopping 30, different visual opsins.
What Is the spiritual meaning of seeing a dragonfly?
Dragonflies can be a symbol of self that comes with maturity. They can symbolize going past self-created illusions that limit our growth and ability to change. The dragonfly has been a symbol of happiness, new beginnings, and change for many centuries. The dragonfly means hope, change, and love.
Where can you an amazing creature like a dragonfly?
Get out into The Great Florida Outdoors!
Dr. Norman is an advanced master naturalist graduate of the FMNP program from UF and a board-certified dermatologist based in Tampa and Riverview. He can be reached at 813-880-7546.
70 books (series editor of 39) ● 300+ articles ● 150 Lectures and Blogs
45 videos and films ● 18 photo calendars and exhibits ● 4 music CDs
Tampa Bay Medical Hero Award (2008)
● Hadassah Humanitarian Award (2012)
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Read more of Dr. Norman’s articles here. https://dunndealpublications.com/dr-robert-normans-articles/
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