In a previous post, “Altruism v. Rape,” I wrote about damselflies appearing to rescue other damselflies who had fallen into the water. Since writing that blog, I have observed this behavior again. Specifically, I saw a damselfly drowning in the pond and at least a half dozen other damselflies were flying to attach onto this one struggling insect and lift it out of the water. Despite repeated and persistent efforts, none were able to lift the damselfly to safety. They tried for quite some time. When they were unsuccessful, I intervened and rescued the damselfly myself. After a few minutes of drying off on my hand, the damselfly flew off.

This was a young damselfly, not yet colored, so I doubt very much whether the attempts to attach were for the purpose of mating. To my untrained eye, it appeared to be even more evidence of altruistic behavior.

Zoe Weil
Author of Most Good, Least Harm

Image courtesy of HaPe_Gera via Creative Commons.

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Filed under: nature, perspective, values Tagged: | Altruism, animals, damselflies, insects, intentions, natural world, perceptions, perspective