Category: Animals

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Blind Cave Fish Find Food

Blind Cave Fish Find Food
Blind Cave Fish – Mexican Tetra

How is bat guano controlled in caves, and how do blind cave fish find food? Like all natural balances, there is a relationship between these two questions.

With vast numbers of bats in caves, over many years, their droppings could fill the caves if there were no natural ways to reduce the volume. Dr. Josh Gross at the University of Cincinnati has discovered that blind cave fish actually eat bat guano. It provides food for the fish, which would otherwise have nothing to eat.

What the fish get from the guano depends on what kind of bats live in the cave. Fruit bats will have some sugar in their guano, and bats that eat insects will have some protein in theirs. The next question is, how do the fish find the guano that will nourish them? The answer is that the fish have taste buds under their chin and on top of their heads.

The fish avoid destructive bacteria that might be in the guano because some of the taste buds can detect lactones in the bacteria that would taste bitter. These taste buds are called tuft cells, and in addition to harmful bacteria, they can detect dust mites and mold.

Everywhere we look in the natural world, even in the darkest caves, we see God’s design and handiwork, even in how blind cave fish find food. Romans 1:20, “We can know there is a God through the things He has made,” has special meaning when we see examples like this.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: “A Matter of Taste” in Scientific American for November 2024, page 16 and Nature Communications Biology

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Termites Building Heuweltjies

Termites Building Heuweltjies
Termite Mounds in Namibia

The more we learn about insects, the more we see design and purpose in their creation and survival methods. Researchers recently studied termites building heuweltjies (“little hills”) in South Africa and Nambia. These termite mounds cover labyrinthine tunnels and chambers that extend 11 feet underground. In addition to their size, they are impressive for their age, with various dating methods showing they are up to 34,000 years old.

These termite colonies have survived for a long time because they are covered with a hard layer of calcite that their main enemy, Aardvarks, cannot penetrate. Termite soldiers and workers go into emergency mode to repair any damage caused by the researchers studying them. The same defensive action would be activated to quickly reseal any break in the calcite layer caused by an aardvark predator. The soldiers guard the tunnels while the workers repair the breach.

In the natural world, termites perform essential services. Termites building heuweltjies break down plant material, producing topsoil, sequestering carbon, and reducing erosion. In some parts of the world, such as Australia, it is virtually impossible to use wood in construction because of termites’ actions. However, termites play an essential role in areas where human structures are not involved.

We sometimes struggle over conflicts with insects, but they remain successful because God designed them with functions and protections to survive. The termites building heuweltjies in South Africa and Namibia are a classic example.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “Termite city from Neanderthal era” in The Week for 10/25/24, page 21

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Eagle Eyes and Design

Eagle Eyes and Design
Bald Eagle

Eagles are some of the most amazing creatures in today’s world. We are familiar with bald eagles and golden eagles, but there are eagles everywhere on Earth, and they have similar designs. Eagle eyes are incredible examples of design that is not easily explained by any chance hypothesis.

The human eye has two kinds of receptors in the retina – rods and cones. Rods are more sensitive and give vision in dim light. Cones provide us with color vision. We don’t see color in dim light because only the rods are sensitive enough to function. Cones are concentrated in the center of our retina in an area called the macula to help us see fine details.

A typical section of the human eye has roughly 200,000 cones, while eagle eyes have over 400,000. That means an eagle can see fine details that the human eye cannot detect. The reason for this design is obvious. Eagles are carnivores, and to see their prey while in flight, they must have incredibly sensitive vision. Experiments with pet eagles have shown they can see a rabbit in a field while flying 1000 feet above the ground.

The problem with this sensitivity is how to keep direct sunlight from damaging the cones. To solve this problem, eagle eyes are protected by an eyebrow ridge that shades the cones. All eagles have this feature and use it in hunting their prey, including small mammals and fish, which are a mainstay of the diet of most eagles.

Eagles are designed to be apex predators. They are the perfect carnivores with talons to grasp prey, wing feathers that allow amazing flight abilities, and powerful wings to lift heavy prey. Eagles keep a balance in nature and are essential in the stability of life forms worldwide.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: PBS Special on Eagles October 2024.

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Superstar Lucy and Anthropology

Superstar Lucy and Anthropology
Lucy Fossil (Australopithecus afarensis)

American Scientist magazine called Lucy “Paleoanthropology’s Superstar.” Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) is a hominid fossil found in 1974. Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson named it Lucy because the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was being played on the radio that year. Lucy had a brain size of 450 cc. A modern human’s brain is between 950 cc and 1800 cc, depending on sex and location. What is special about superstar Lucy?

Lucy stood about three feet seven inches tall, weighed around 60 pounds, and had a pelvis similar to a chimpanzee. Lucy’s limbs were close to the ratio of a monkey, with the femur and humerus being about the same size. In humans, there is a 2:1 ratio between these two bones. The opening into the skull through which the spinal column sends its messages to the brain is called the foramen magnum. In a human, that opening is centered in the middle of the skull, allowing a normal vertical position. In a monkey, the foramen magnum is in the back of the skull, so vertical standing is difficult. In the case of Lucy, the foramen magnum is not in the center of the skull and not in the very back of the skull. Vertical motion and standing would have been possible, but walking long distances would be difficult.

Graduate students and anthropologists have used superstar Lucy for fundraising, with many getting support for field research. In the 50 years since Lucy’s discovery, researchers have found many other hominid fossils in better condition than Lucy. The theory of human evolution 50 years ago was a tree with something like Lucy at the base. The newer models are that hominoid history is more of a bush than a tree.

So, where do Adam and Eve fit into all of this? The Bible says that man was formed “from the dust of the Earth … and man became a living being”. The Hebrew used here is “nephesh,” which the Hebrew lexicon says means “animal soul.” The passage does not say how long God took to do that or what process He used. We can understand some of what God did by looking at the fossils. What separates the first human is not his body. Our body chemistry is the same as other forms of life. What sets us apart is our creation in God’s image.

Genesis 1:26-27 describes the unique creation of man – not his physical body. “Let US create man in OUR image” refers to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the image of God refers to our spiritual makeup. It isn’t our brains or our bodies that make us unique and special. All humans are created in God’s image with a spiritual aspect that can last eternally. The physical body will return to the dust from which it came (Genesis 3:19), but our spiritual body (soul) is not subject to the physical laws that govern all other life on Earth.

As anthropologists focus on superstar Lucy, The big question is, “When will we recognize the unique beauty of all humans and stop killing each other?”

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “Paleoanthropology’s Superstar” in the November/December issue of American Scientist magazine (pages 326 -327).

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Sea Robin Design

Sea Robin Design
Northern Sea Robin (Prionotus carolinus)

Small fish in the subfamily Prionotinae are among the most interesting ocean creatures. They are known as sea robins because they have large pectoral fins resembling bird wings. The sea robin design makes them distinctive, and some say, “bizarre.”

Sea robins live off the coasts of the Americas in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. In addition to having fins that resemble bird wings, they have limbs like a crab. These legs are covered with tiny protrusions, which are like taste buds that can detect mollusks buried under the sand, allowing them to find food on the ocean floor.

When a northern sea robin (Prionotus carolinus) hatches, it has webbed fins for swimming. As the fish grows, the first three rays of the pectoral fins separate into three individual appendages on each side that can serve as legs for “walking” along the ocean floor. These appendages in northern sea robins can detect chemicals released by prey hidden under the sand. Each of these six “legs” has a large nerve that branches from the massive spinal ganglia to carry information to and from the brain.

The unique sea robin design includes fins to soar like a bird underwater, “legs” to walk on the sea floor and “taste” hidden predators, armor plating, and specialized muscles to generate croaking sounds by drumming on their swim bladder. This is another example of complexity in a life form that is too complex for a chance explanation. Evolutionary theories can explain one of the unique characteristics of the sea robin design, but all of these unique features have to come together to survive.

Controlling the populations of benthic sea creatures and keeping the ocean floor clean of debris requires a unique form of life, and the sea robin design remarkably fills the need. God’s creatures offer an understanding of God’s design wisdom, care, and engineering. Romans 1:19-20 tells us that things like this fish are an apologetic for the existence of God.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: Wikipedia and Current Biology

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Should Humans Eat Meat?

Should Humans Eat Meat?

One of the questions we face today is, “Should humans eat meat?” Genesis 9:1-3 tells us, “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.’”

The atheist view is that we are just animals and nothing special. One issue of Skeptic magazine centered around animal rights and whether animals have the same rights as humans. The issue showed the impressive intelligence of ants, crows, octopuses, dolphins, goats, and turtles. Atheists typically jump from intelligence to animal rights and conclude that it is unethical for humans to eat animals and that we should consider the rights that animals have. One authority used in the atheist view is Peter Singer at Princeton University. He wrote “Animal Liberation,” often called “the bible of the animal rights movement.” Animal rights advocates argue that all human foods should be plant-based and that killing animals for food is a barbaric tradition that needs to stop.

There are major logical and factual problems with this view. Should humans eat meat? Is the intelligent behaior of animals the result of their thinking things out and acting on their thoughts, or is instinct the driving force? Is it a thought process or copying an observed behavior? Do crows, for example, take the lid off of a bottle because they figured out how to do it, or are they copying what they have seen humans do?

Another vital question is the result of restrictive diets: How will the human population survive if eating meat is no longer allowed? Getting enough protein and other crucial nutrients from plants for the world’s population is a significant challenge today. The problem would greatly increase without meat in the diet. We cannot overemphasize the importance of not causing pain to any of God’s creatures, but removing meat from everyone’s diet will cause more problems than it will solve.

“Should humans eat meat?” becomes a question because the atheist view fails to recognize that humans are unique because we are created in God’s image.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: Skeptic magazine (Volume 29 #3) “Animal Minds – What do they think?”

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Life in Balance is Good

Life in Balance Is Good

When God created and populated the Earth, he ensured everything was balanced. Genesis 1 describes the creation. After referencing the formation of life forms in verse 24, verse 25 concludes with “..and God saw that it was good.” Verses 26-31 describe the creation of humans and their relationship to vegetation and animal life. The chapter concludes by saying, “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was VERY good.” God’s design in the natural world keeps life in balance.

Herbivores eat plants, keeping them in balance by spreading the seeds for more plants to grow. Carnivores keep the herbivore life in balance by feeding on the weak and old ones, preventing plants from being over-eaten. This simplified description of balance is evident in wild places worldwide. We have too often seen humans upset that balance. Selfishness, greed, ignorance, and power struggles have contaminated what was “very good” when God turned it over to humans to care for (Genesis 2:15).

Natural life in balance is excellent evidence of God’s design and wisdom in the creation. We can see what happens when humans upset that balance in these examples:

1) In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar, a Columbian drug lord, brought four hippos into the ecosystem. With no predators to control them, that number is 130 in 2024 and estimated to become 1400 by 2034. The estimated cost of removing the hippos is some 24 million dollars. With no natural enemies, the hippos have become a hazard to the people of Columbia.

2) In 1946, Argentina imported ten breeding pairs of beavers from North America, hoping to establish a fur industry. There are now roughly 100,000 beavers in Argentina, and they have decimated the native trees and built dams that have flooded forests and killed many native animal species.

3) In the 1970s, having a pet Burmese python was popular in Florida and became a raging business in Miami. When Hurricane Andrew ripped through Florida in 1992, hundreds of Burmese pythons escaped a reptile breeding facility. Today, tens of thousands of these snakes inhabit the Everglades. They can reach 20 feet long, weigh 200 pounds, eat just about anything, and spread parasites

These are just three examples of what happens when humans upset the balance that God built into the ecosystems of planet Earth. Finding a way to return the planet to life in balance as God made it is a massive challenge to biologists and wildlife managers. Human knowledge and understanding are very limited compared to God’s creative wisdom, which we see everywhere. To deny God’s existence and design requires more faith than any religious belief system.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: National Wildlife Federation, Fall 2024, pp 22-39, The Week, October 4, 2024, page 16, and Wikipedia.

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Caterpillars Appear to Be Defenseless

Most Caterpillars Appear to Be Defenseless

Most of us know that caterpillars are a significant part of life on our planet. They are a stage in many insects’ lives and a substantial food for many other life forms. Most caterpillars appear defenseless, so you might assume they are in danger of being wiped out, meaning there would be no more butterflies and moths.

Some caterpillars, such as those for monarch butterflies, have a poison defense. However, recent research has shown that caterpillars are not as helpless as we might think. They are designed with a defense mechanism called “electroreception,” which allows them to avoid being eaten by predator wasps.

The caterpillar can use the bristles that cover its body to detect the faint electric field generated by the wasp’s wing beats. Once it detects the presence of a wasp, the caterpillar assumes a defensive mode. It may remain coiled up with the bristles facing outward or even enter a biting defense.

Electroreception is common in aquatic animals, but this is the first time this predator-prey interaction has been recorded in land creatures. While most caterpillars appear to be defenseless, like all living things, they are carefully designed to have what they need to survive and prosper.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “Warning Charge” in Scientific American, October 2024, pages 16-17

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History of Life on Earth

History of Life on Earth
Woolly Mammoth Illustration

Those who advocate for naturalism assume uniformitarianism – that no process has ever occurred on Earth that is not happening today. When researchers find a fossil, they assume that the preservation of that fossil was accomplished by the same natural processes that are preserving biological material today. In the past, some in the scientific community have challenged the discovery of an asteroid strike, which apparently caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. They rejected it because it would violate uniformitarianism. However, some discoveries don’t fit uniformitarianism, and various theories of the history of life on Earth change with new evidence.

Reconstruction of the chromosomes of a woolly mammoth found in Siberian permafrost has given new information. This animal was quickly freeze-dried, preserving the 3-D structure of ancient chromosomes containing DNA. Dehydrated chromatin was preserved in a unique state resembling the molecules in glass.

This remarkable find allowed scientists to determine that the woolly mammoth had 28 pairs of chromosomes. Modern elephants also have 28 chromosome pairs, so researchers can discover which genes regulating hair follicle development were active in key positions, explaining why the mammoths were woolly and modern elephants are not. This 52,000 year old specimen opens a whole new area of study of the history of life on Earth.

Another message of the discovery of this specimen is that it re-opens the discussion of whether uniformitarianism is a valid assumption to understand the history of life on Earth.

In our personal trips to Alaska, we have seen other specimens of animals frozen in the permafrost. In the 1970s, gold miners discovered frozen bison, one called Blue Babe, because of its staining from minerals in the area. This specimen was put on display in the University of Alaska Museum in 1979. It had claw marks, which were believed to be from a lion. In 2012, another bison specimen named Bison Bob was discovered, and other animals were found frozen in the same layers of permafrost.

The Bible tells us that events have happened in the past that are not uniformitarian. They are rare, but those events are a clear indicator that naturalism and uniformitarianism are not good assumptions in building an understanding of Earth’s history.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: “Woolly mammoth chromosomes reconstructed using fossilized sample,” The National Science Foundation, nsf.gov for July 12, 2024, and wikipedia.org

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Why Doesn’t the Bible Mention Dinosaurs?

Why Doesn’t the Bible Mention Dinosaurs?

The fossil evidence for the existence of dinosaurs is undeniable. Thousands of fossil remains exist, and no human remains have ever been found together with dinosaur fossils. You can go to various museums and see these fossils for yourself or go to this article to see how people dig up and assemble them. Then, if they actually existed, why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs?

Remember that the Bible also does not mention bacteria, platypuses, penguins, parasites, or many other living things. It does not attempt to explain the creation of the millions of species of every living thing on Earth, even though people today want to know about them. However, the Bible was not written just for people living today but also for people living thousands of years ago without microscopes or global travel.

The Bible’s message is spiritual, not a physical history of life on Earth. Why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs? Some people try to say that it does. The Hebrew “behemoth” in Job describes an animal known to Job that ate grass, had a tail like a cedar, and lay under shady trees (Job 40:15-24). None of those things apply to dinosaurs. The description of the “leviathan” of Job 41, Psalms 74:14, and 104:26 has nothing in common with what we know about dinosaurs.

What we do know about dinosaurs is that they were part of a very different ecosystem than what we have today. The world of the dinosaurs was hotter and had a different atmosphere. The time of the dinosaurs was perfect for plant growth, resulting in massive amounts of vegetation. We see the remains of that vegetation in coal and peat.

It is essential to understand that God used two methods to give us the world with the resources we have today. One method was the production of things by a miraculous act. Time, space, and matter/energy were created out of nothing by this method. Today, quantum mechanics helps us verify that. The Hebrew word “bara” describes this method and is correctly translated as “created” in Genesis 1 only in verses 1, 21, and 27.

The second method is to change what God had previously created. The Bible uses the Hebrew “asah” for that. You will find it in verses 7, 16, 25, and 31 of Genesis 1. Humans can locate resources such as coal and oil because God used this method. At the conclusion of the creation account, Genesis 2:3 tells us that He “rested from all His work which God created (bara) and made (asah).” Then why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs? The Bible contains the story of God’s spiritual relationship to humans, and dinosaurs were part of God’s method of preparing the Earth for humans.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: “God’s Revelation In His Rocks and His Word” by John N. Clayton and “How to bring a 75-foot-long dinosaur back to life” in National Geographic