Dragonflies!

[davidedric]

I've just been reading that dragonflies can have 25,000 lenses in each of their multifaceted eyes. That's 50,000 images that have to assembled into a "video" stream quickly enough to enable their owner to hawk insects on the wing.

Rather puts our kit in perspective.

Dave

[DanK]

And the system works. Last week, I sat out on a dock watching dragonflies scoot around in a fairly substantial wind, plucking bugs out of the air. And at least some of them were succeeding--they would land on the dock to chew their meals. I have a few photos of some eating, but they aren't very good, and I haven't processed them yet. Dragonflies and damselflies are truly amazing creatures, IMHO. Sometimes, evolution happens to produce an amazingly well-adapted species. Not always quite so appealing as dragonflies, though. It seems that cockroaches are also an evolutionary high point--they have been around for a remarkably long time, adapting to a huge variety of environments without apparent significant change.

[JBW]

I've just been reading that dragonflies can have 25,000 lenses in each of their multifaceted eyes. That's 50,000 images that have to assembled into a "video" stream quickly enough to enable their owner to hawk insects on the wing.

Rather puts our kit in perspective.

Dave

don't know about my kit but it sure puts me and my reflexes into perspective

[Pippan]

It seems that cockroaches are also an evolutionary high point--they have been around for a remarkably long time, adapting to a huge variety of environments without apparent significant change.

Cockroaches (and their relatives the termites) definitely suffer from bad press. Many species of both spend a lot of time caring for their children. See http://theconversation.com/only-a-mo...-parents-77162.

[Shadowman]

I've seen a few double lenses designed to give a 3D effect.