Emerging damselflies are vulnerable to predator attacks and considered to be at high risk at this stage of their life cycle. We filmed bird and frog attacks on damselflies ready to emerge in slow motion and analysed their reactions. Pharate damselfly larvae that had left the water reacted to approaching wagtails and frogs by disengaging from the substrate, dropping with flipping movements back into the water and trying to swim away rapidly thus escaping these predators