# Fuzzy Dragonfly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075 "2006-01-02T13:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/1 "2006-01-02T13:31:49Z")
First off “Fuzzy Dragonfly” would be a great name for a band or some sort of fancy drink. The Wikipedia Feature Photo of the Day is always interesting. Today it is a lovely close-up of a [dragonfly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sympetrum_flaveolum_-_side_%28aka%29.jpg). Beautiful and alien. Great photo. Why the heck does the beast have hair? Is it hair? If not, what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/2 "2006-01-02T14:12:37Z")
[Damsels and Dragons](http://cassfos02.ucsd.edu/personal/ron/CVNC/odonata/ips_odonata.html): > [@](#): > > egg laying: > For many species often seen in tandem, the female inserts each egg individually into some suitable vegetation, from dead wood to reeds, sometimes above the waterline, sometimes below, sometimes so far below that the males and females descend into the water breathing via a protective coating of **air that gets trapped in the many fine hairs on their bodies.** There are likely other reasons for the fuzz as well. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/3 "2006-01-03T06:12:28Z")
Thank you. I presumed that only mammals had hair. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/4 "2006-01-03T06:23:27Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > I presumed that only mammals had hair. I guess you’ve never seen a [bumblebee.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/5 "2006-01-03T06:30:41Z")
Or a [frog](http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes/dnelson/data/FrogHairPie.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/6 "2006-01-03T15:54:00Z")
Or [gypsy moth caterpillars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_moth) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/7 "2006-01-03T16:46:29Z")
Interestingly, the Wiki article on bumbleees refers to the “hairlike substance called pile,” yet other articles (on Wiki and elsewhere) simply refer to the “hair” in the legs or bodies of other insects. We might need a decision from a genuine entemologist. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/8 "2006-01-03T16:53:18Z")
It was worth all the abuse just to read the Google Ads. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/9 "2006-01-04T21:07:02Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Interestingly, the Wiki article on bumbleees refers to the “hairlike substance called pile,” yet other articles (on Wiki and elsewhere) simply refer to the “hair” in the legs or bodies of other insects. It’s really just a matter of definition. In its broadest sense, “hair” can mean any kind of filamentous extension of the epidermis of an organism, whether plant (e.g. root hairs) or animal (or for that matter, can refer even an extension of a single cell). In its narrowest definition, however, “hair” refers just to the mammalian hair, which is composed of keratin and which grows from specialized follicles in the skin. Insect “hair,” in contrast, is composed of chitin like the rest of the exoskeleton. Since it is different in composition and structure from mammalian hair, some references prefer to call it “hairlike” rather than true hair. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuzzy-dragonfly/338075/10 "2006-01-05T00:54:07Z")
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bug. Fuzzy Wuzzy wore a rug. 🙂