agility and speed

when i was an aerospace engineer, one of the things i learned was that you could design an aircraft for agility, or you could design for speed. but it was impossible to get both the “fastest” and the “most agile” in the same vehicle. at some point, you would have to pick which of the two you were optimizing for. somehow, dragonflies seem to be the exception. my son informed me recently that dragonflies have a 95% success rate when it comes to hunting prey. they are the single most successful hunters of the animal kingdom. the next closest comes in at a 60-something success rate. and why are they so successful? they are both incredibly fast, and incredibly agile. 1 + 1 = 3.

dragonfly