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The dragonfly is the fastest flier among insects and has an eye that sees almost everything.

By the pond you saw a dragonfly - so long and shiny, with transparent wings. At first glance - just a beautiful insect. In fact - one of nature's most perfect airplanes.

A dragonfly can accelerate to 50 kilometers per hour. That's the speed of a car in the yard. It has four wings, and each moves independently of the others - it can quickly change direction, hover in place like a helicopter, fly backwards and even upside down. No other insect can do all this.

And now the most amazing thing is its eyes. Two huge half-domes on its head, each with 30,000 tiny eyes. Imagine: a mosaic of 30,000 tiny lenses. Together, they give it almost 360-degree vision. A dragonfly can see in front of it, behind it, above it, and below it all at once. It is almost impossible to catch it by surprise.

When a dragonfly hunts, it catches its prey in the air—mosquitoes, flies, butterflies. And 95 times out of a hundred, it's successful. That's the best hunting rate of any predator on the planet. A lion is only 25 percent successful. A tiger is 10 percent successful. And a tiny dragonfly is almost always successful.

You know what else is interesting? Dragonflies lived on Earth before dinosaurs. 300 million years ago, some species had a wingspan of 70 centimeters — like a pigeon. Apparently, back then, you had to be careful in ponds.

The next time you see a dragonfly over the water, remember: it sees you long before you notice it.