Dragonflies Protected

Nearly a fifth of the world’s dragonflies and damselflies are at risk of extinction, according to an alarming new assessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The insects rely on marshes, swamps, and free-flowing rivers for breeding and survival. Likewise, dragonflies and damselflies are crucial to wetland ecosystems because they munch on mosquitos in both their nymph and adult stages and serve as prey to birds and fish, per National Geographic. But destruction of these wetland habitats is driving the species’ population decline, per a statement by the IUCN. Of 6,016 damsel and dragonfly species, 16 percent are at risk of extinction, or about 962 species total, reports Holly Bancroft for the Independent.