What are the natural predators of dragonflies?

Predation is a fact of life for most animals, whether they're monkeys, flying insects or ground squirrels. Dragonflies (Anisoptera) certainly aren't exempt from the woes of predation, with an assortment of common threats. Strangely enough, some of these big insects' predators aren't even animals; they're plants. read more

Juvenile and mature dragonflies have different sets of predators. In the aquatic larval stage, their primary predators are ducks, amphibians such as toads and newts, fish and bigger damselfly and dragonfly larvae. When the nymphs sense danger, they often attempt to dodge predation by pretending to be dead or by swimming away quickly. read more

Dragonfly Predators Dragonfly & Damselfly Predators. While in the field trying to photograph Odonates, I sometimes come across other creatures who are also in search of these interesting insects. read more

I'm sure there are many more, but adult dragonflies will be eaten by birds, frogs, other kinds of dragonflies and even by fish when they're laying eggs near the water’s surface. Nymphs will be eaten by fish, larger aquatic invertebrates, big tadpoles, etc. read more