May 6, 2007 - Dragonfly Emergence Welcome to the Nature Notebook. Growing up is a difficult process. Starting from an egg deposited into the warm, summer water of a pond or wetland and transforming into a winged predator is an amazing accomplishment. Dragonfly eggs, attached to an aquatic plant, hatch into an underwater adolescent that only faintly resembles an adult. For a year or more this water stage stalks the muddy bottom searching for prey. Early one May morning it climbs a cattail stem, clamps tight and splits its protective body covering. Ever so slowly it pushes out of its old exoskeleton, emerging into a different phase of its life. Pumping fluids into folded wings, it prepares to make its maiden voyage as an adult dragonfly. As the morning sun warms and hardens its outer covering, the transformation is complete. An adult dragonfly has emerged. This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.