Jet-propulsion

In a previous post I talked about how totally awesome and totally impossible it would be to be born with rocket-thrusters. As personally disappointing as this is, I take joy in the fact that many other animals are blessed with magnificently bizarre methods of locomotion.

Dragonfly larvae, for example. They are rather ugly brown critters that swim around in shallow ponds, catching small invertebrates and fish with an extensible bear-trap jaw, biding their time until they can emerge as adult dragonflies and take up their rightful place among the high-speed insect jewels in the sky.

Dragonfly larvae do not have paddle-like appendages for swimming under the water. They are not helpless, however, against predators. God, in his wisdom, has given them jet-propulsion. When chased, a dragonfly larva will suck water into its anus like a turkey-baster and then blast it out, propelling itself through the water with surprising speed. Yes, dragonfly larvae are equipped with their very own rectal rocket-thrusters.

If that wasn't awesome enough for you, the gills of dragonfly larvae are also housed within the rectum. Picture, for a moment, what a different life it would be to use your rectum for both jet-propulsion and breathing.

And now you know why I feel my heart rise into my throat when I study insects. There is something ludicrous everywhere you look.