It’s a classic summer day  in San Francisco – foggy.

But for the quirky San  Francisco forktail damselfly,   the weather is perfect for finding love.

Damselflies are dragonfly cousins.

They’re both  odonates, a group of flying insects.

When they’re   at rest, most damselflies neatly fold their wings  back, while dragonflies keep theirs outstretched.

Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t  afraid to show some flair – they’re decked   out in turquoise.

Young females sport a soft  pink.

Down in the reeds, the courtship begins.

The male flies up to the female.

He then uses claspers at the end of his blue  body to hold the female just behind her head.

In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the  female curves her entire body forward.

She hooks   the tip of her abdomen to his midsection.

The  male leaves nothing to chance.

Inside her body,   he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any  previous partners.

Then he deposits his own.

When the mating is over, the pair stays  connected, sometimes for more than an hour.

This keeps the other males at bay, and gives  time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs.

When the female’s ready to lay her  eggs, the pair moves close to the water.

She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her  ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs.

She tucks them just under the  plant’s surface – one at a time.

A couple of weeks later, the  eggs hatch into voracious   nymphs called naiads.

They’ll spend  a few months like this in the water.

Naiads breathe through caudal gills,  these leafy things on their backside.

Just like these dragonfly naiads,  they’ll climb out of the water,   shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off.

There are thousands of species of damselflies, but  the San Francisco forktail is special – it’s one   of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal  climate.

Researchers think their darker,   more robust bodies may better absorb heat  and help them stay warm in cool places.

But a warming world is diminishing  the fog that blankets this city.

Plus, the wetlands they lay  their eggs in are disappearing.

San Francisco Forktail Damselflies are now one of  the rarest species of odonates in North America.

So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are  stepping in.

They’ve figured out how to breed   the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and  are releasing and monitoring their populations.

The number of these insects in the wild is  increasing.

But will their efforts be enough?

It’s too early to tell.

San Francisco has long been home to dreamers,   misfits, lovers.

The work of these scientists  is not just for biodiversity – it’s an attempt   to save another colorful resident that  calls this city by the bay its home.