Animals Archives

September 29, 2026September 28, 2026

The Size of Animals in the Fossil Record

One question better answered by creation by God than by other explanations is why animals were so big in the past and so small today. In Smithsonian Magazine for September/October 2026, Dr. Floyd Shockley, the collections manager of entomology at the National Museum of Natural History, gives the traditional explanation for the size of animals in the fossil record.

The data on this issue involves two things. One is the fact that the level of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere was higher in the past than it is today (35% in the past as opposed to 21% today). The other is the fact that all major groups of animal life have become smaller today. We are all familiar with the fossil remains of huge dinosaurs. Less publicized is the fact that insects were also huge compared to their relatives today. Is an animal’s size related to how much oxygen it breathes? If so, animals living at higher elevations should be smaller than those at lower elevations. That is simply not the case.

Size is more directly related to diet than to a 14% difference in oxygen levels. The ecology of various environments is also a factor. Habitat design involves interactions between plant and animal life. Scientists have conducted interesting experiments in which they tried to design a closed habitat that would last for many years. Without external interference from the scientists, those habitats have collapsed.

The size of animals in the fossil record shows great intelligence in how animal and plant sizes interact. God was preparing the planet for humans and the resources we would need. No single factor accounts for how life was created, and no chance process can explain the facts we see. It reminds us of Romans 1:20, which tells us that “…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

September 28, 2026September 27, 2026

Rock Hyraxes Are Wise

These mammals are mentioned four times in the Bible and are widespread throughout central and southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Although rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) look like a larger guinea pig, they are not rodents. Surprisingly, it is more closely related to elephants.

Rock hyraxes average 20 inches (50 cm) long and weigh around 8.8 pounds (4 kg). They resemble rabbits, with short, rounded ears and no tail. They have four toes on each front foot and three on each back foot. Their toes have long, claw-like nails used for grooming and scratching. The bottoms of their feet have a rubbery texture that helps them climb steep rock surfaces and trees. Their sandy, tan color helps them blend into their desert environment.

Although rock hyraxes do not burrow, they inhabit abandoned aardvark and meerkat burrows. They live in colonies of about fifty in the natural crevices of boulders. The colony maintains a high level of hygiene, designating areas of the shelter as “latrines” for waste disposal. They are very active during the daytime, communicating with family members using many vocalizations.

Rock hyraxes forage for food as a group, using a sentry strategy. Members of the foraging party eat in a circle facing away from the group, giving them a clear view of their surroundings for any threats or predators. They play an ecosystem role as a food source for many predators and as seed dispersers. The rock hyrax could not perform its role as a seed disperser without its three-chambered stomach, which contains symbiotic bacteria that break down plant matter.

The Bible mentions rock hyraxes four times (translated as “coneys” in the King James Version). Leviticus and Deuteronomy list them as unclean animals that should not be eaten. Psalms 104:18 and Proverbs 30:26 say that they make their homes in the rocky cliffs. They find protection there, and for that, Proverbs 30:24 commends them for being wise.

September 23, 2026September 22, 2026

Sockeye Salmon Make an Incredible Journey

This salmon species is known for its bright red skin during the spawning season. Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are native to the northern Pacific Ocean and the rivers that flow into it.

In the ocean, sockeye salmon don’t look like they do in spawning mode. Instead, they are a pale turquoise to deep blue, with silvery hues on the belly. They don’t begin to change color until the migration season. The change begins when they swim into the freshwater rivers and streams where they hatched. Eventually, the salmon’s body becomes bright red, with a green head.

The life cycle of sockeye salmon is hard to explain by natural selection. Juvenile sockeye are hatched in freshwater, where they remain for up to three years. Eventually, the fish decides it’s time to journey to the sea, where it will grow larger. It will follow the river downstream up to 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to reach the ocean. We don’t know how the fish know when the time is right or why they feel the urge to relocate, but they are programmed to carry out this incredible journey.

The sockeye stays in the ocean for one to four years, growing rapidly and feeding mainly on zooplankton. After some time, something triggers the fish’s brain, telling it to leave the ocean and swim upstream to the place of its origin. As the journey begins, the fish will stop eating. If it completes the journey, it spawns and dies there. Many do not make it because, along the way, they become food for predators such as bears, or even humans. Although sockeye salmon are among the smaller of the seven Pacific salmon species, humans prize their meat.

Sockeye salmon are endangered in some areas, while plentiful in others. In the regions where these salmon are abundant, they significantly influence their ecosystem. Salmon runs bring vast amounts of marine nutrients from the ocean to rivers, sustaining a healthy ecosystem. As evidence of how God has given living creatures the ability to adapt, some salmon do not migrate. Instead, they spend their entire lives in freshwater lakes, where they are known as kokanee salmon.

If evolution is directed by survival of the fittest, why would sockeye salmon make the journey to the ocean and back to their place of origin? Their return journey benefits the ecosystem and their predators, but not the salmon themselves. They die whether they serve as food for bears or complete the journey. Who programmed into these fish the ability to find the place where they hatched? These beautiful fish play a critical role in their habitat and demonstrate a designed system that requires a Designer.

Click HERE for information on Atlantic salmon.

September 21, 2026September 20, 2026

Sea Turtle Migrations

Leatherback sea turtles are the world’s largest reptiles, weighing up to 1,500 pounds. They are one of only seven sea turtle species alive today, and all seven are endangered. More species existed in the past, but humans are their greatest enemy. Humans threaten them through habitat destruction, poaching for meat and eggs, accidental capture in fishing gear, and plastic pollution. Why do sea turtles migrate, and why do we need sea turtle migrations?

Most people know that sea turtles migrate thousands of miles but don’t understand why. According to Darwinian evolutionary theory, natural selection preserves the creatures that survive best. It’s survival of the fittest without regard for other species. However, migrating thousands of miles does not benefit sea turtles as much as it does other creatures and plants in the ocean environment. That indicates a designed system. Why would sea turtles expend the energy to travel thousands of miles when they could survive in a limited area?

Sea turtle migrations help keep ocean environments healthy. Their migrations move nutrients and sustain food webs across vast areas. As they consume resources and recycle nutrients, sea turtles benefit many species of fish, plus crabs, shrimp, and mollusks. Their grazing on seagrass prevents it from becoming overgrown, benefiting the invertebrates that thrive in healthy seagrass. That, in turn, benefits the fish that feed on the invertebrates, which, in turn, benefits herons, egrets, terns, and gulls that feed on the fish.

Coastal vegetation and dune ecosystems benefit from the nutrients sea turtle migrations leave on widely scattered beaches. Migration between regions transfers nutrients over long distances, supporting plankton and small fish that whales depend on. Sea turtle migrations show a designed system, not evolutionary chance. Furthermore, fossil evidence suggests that sea turtles did not evolve from other creatures. Sea turtles have always been sea turtles, and we can thank the Creator for giving us these keystone creatures that deserve our protection.

References: scienceandculture.com and iere.org

September 11, 2026September 10, 2026

Insects Are God’s Tools

One of my neighbors is a mechanical genius – he can fix anything. The secret to his success is that he has a tool for every situation. It is one thing to have a tool, and another to know how to find it. When he needs a screw with a special design, width, and length, he can go to a drawer full of screws and a tool rack full of screwdrivers and have exactly what he needs to do the job. Insects are God’s tools.

Recent studies have shown that scientists have vastly undercounted insect species. Entomologist Laura Melissa Guzman of Cornell University, writing in Science News, says that previous insect species counts of six million are way too low and that the actual count is at least 14 million species and may be as high as 20 million.

The question is why so many species exist, and the reason is that insects are God’s tools to sustain life on planet Earth. Insects serve in many ways. For example, flowers must be pollinated to produce seeds that will grow into new flowers. To pollinate flowers of various sizes and shapes, insects of various sizes and shapes are God’s tools for that purpose. While some insects have particular jobs, others help control insect populations. Scientists have identified over 2,400 species of parasitoid wasps that do this.

Like my neighbor, who has the right tool for every situation, insects are God’s tools for every situation. Guzman writes, “It’s humbling how much we don’t know and how much we have left to know.” Everywhere we look in the world, we see a wonder-working hand has gone before. Insects are another of the things God has created to enable life to exist on our planet.

Reference: Science News, September 2026, page 26

September 10, 2026September 9, 2026

What Are They If Not Insects?

Take this quiz to test your knowledge of living things. What are usually less than 6 mm long, have six legs like an insect, but are not insects? They come in various colors and shapes and live everywhere on Earth, including Antarctica. These tiny creatures can survive on the tallest mountains, in caves, underg r ound, in deserts, grasslands, and forests. The class Collembola includes more than 9,000 species. They can “fly” without wings and provide beneficial services for agriculture. What are they? They are springtails.

They are called “springtails” because they can “spring” into the air so fast that their motion can only be captured at 10,000 frames per second. That helps them quickly escape predators or change locations. Springtails accomplish this Olympic-style feat with a spring-loaded appendage called a furcula on their underside. You could think of it as a lever that stores elastic energy the springtail can release when needed. They keep the furcula tucked under their bodies when not in use, but at any moment they can release it and propel themselves forward and upward.

Springtails thrive in moist locations such as soil, leaves, and rotting wood. They shed their outer shells in warm temperatures, reducing their body size by 30% and giving them a survival advantage. Some springtail species are considered pests; however, most springtails benefit agriculture. Mycorrhizal fungi have a beneficial symbiotic relationship with plant roots. Springtails collect mycorrhizal fungi spores and spread them to other locations, benefiting more plants.

Not only do springtails transport beneficial fungi, but they also eat the spores of pathogenic fungi and the damaging vegetative parts of fungi called mycelia. Through these functions, springtails play a crucial role in controlling plant and fungal diseases. Plant scientists have realized that springtails can be integrated into greenhouses to limit fungal growth. These seemingly insignificant creatures benefit humans.

The next time you see tiny creatures in leaf matter or rotting logs launch themselves into the air, instead of wondering “what are they,” you will know that they are springtails. You will also know they are some of the planet’s most beneficial creatures, playing a role in the marvelous web of life. It is evident that a wise Designer created the system.

Reference: scienceandcultu r e.com

September 3, 2026September 2, 2026

Giants and the Laws of Physics

A recent animated movie depicting David and Goliath showed Goliath as enormous. How tall was Goliath? The Bible says Goliath was “six cubits and a span,” which is about nine feet nine inches (3 meters). That is a large man but within the realm of possibility. The tallest man in modern recorded medical history was Robert Wadlow, who, in 1940, was slightly under nine feet tall. The children’s story of Jack and the Beanstalk depicts a giant of enormous proportions. In Homer’s “Odyssey,” Odysseus meets the one-eyed giant Cyclops, who can pick up a person in one hand. Are these legendary giants depicted in movies and storybooks possible in real life? Let’s consider giants and the laws of physics.

In 1638, Galileo Galilei wrote a document arguing that the way giants were depicted in folklore would not be possible. A human’s bone structure supports that person’s weight and is geometrically designed for optimal function. If you scaled up a human while keeping the same proportions, the bones would be stronger. If you increased both cross-sectional bone dimensions by 10 times, the strength would increase by 10 times 10, so the bone would be 100 times stronger.

At the same time, however, the body’s volume would increase by 10 times. The increased mass would be 10 times 10 times 10. Bone strength scales with the square, while volume scales with the cube. In other words, the weight of the body would be 1000 times greater. You now have bones that are 100 times as strong, but they must support a body mass that’s 1000 times greater. The fact that the bone structure could not support the weight is the problem of giants and the laws of physics. Increasing the size of the human body would require a much larger increase in the bone structure. That is why the leg bones of elephants are proportionally much thicker than the leg bones of dogs and cats.

Sometimes movies depict flies or other insects becoming huge because of some science-fiction apparatus. But if a fly became larger than a human, keeping the leg thickness in proportion, the legs would not be able to support the creature. A fly increased to only ten times its normal size would weigh 1000 times as much and be unable to fly. If a water bug that walks on the surface were increased 10 times in size, it would sink because surface tension would not support 1000 times the weight. Again, giants and the laws of physics are not compatible.

On the other hand, what would happen if humans were scaled down, as shown in science fiction movies? If scaled down by a factor of 10, the miniature humans would have bones that are 100 times weaker, but they would weigh 1000 times less. They could potentially carry a much larger load relative to their size. That explains how ants can carry loads several times their weight.

The bottom line is that humans are designed to do what we need to do, and ants are designed to do what they need to do. Science fiction movies about enlarging insects or shrinking humans are purely fiction. Goliath was a giant by human standards, but he was not as large as depicted in the recent animated movie. Regardless of his size, David did not defeat Goliath by his own strength. He clearly said it was by the power of God. (See 1 Samuel 17:45.) David was victorious because he trusted the same God who designed humans and ants – and the laws of physics.

Reference: mit.edu

August 26, 2026August 18, 2026

Moths Smell With Their Wings

Moth wings have a soft look because they are covered with sensitive hairs. These multifunctional hairs provide moths with flying stability, temperature regulation, and a sense of taste. Yes, moths taste with their wings, but a new study indicates that moths smell with their wings.

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, was conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany. The researchers found that tobacco hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) have receptor proteins in their wings that detect both smells and tastes.

Examination with an electron microscope showed that some of the hairs are porous. Further analysis showed that the wings have genes for detecting scents. They can detect the odor of organic compounds present in the leaves of nightshade plants, where they prefer to lay their eggs.

Knowing that moths smell with their wings reminds us that the more we learn about God’s creation, the more we are amazed at the diversity of living things and the way each has been given what it needs to survive.

Reference: popsci.com

August 25, 2026August 18, 2026

Notions of Evolution

Ancient insects were often trapped in amber and beautifully preserved. Researchers found ground beetles in the genus Loricera in amber from Myanmar, radiometrically dated to 99 million years old. Both adult beetles and larvae were present. Remarkably, they are indistinguishable from today’s living specimens of Loricera beetles, both adults and larvae. This means these beetles have survived unchanged even through the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and the vast majority of life on Earth. According to an article in Wired magazine, “the Loricera beetle’s survival story challenges conventional notions of evolution.”

When evolutionists find that a species has remained unchanged for a long period, they explain it by saying it was because the species lived in a stable environment. However, in this case, these beetles have remained unchanged through changing environments, changing climate, and a worldwide mass extinction. The researchers had to admit that the beetles “have exhibited significant evolutionary stasis, both in terms of individual species morphology and community structure.” In other words, despite massive environmental changes, there has been no evolutionary change.

According to the “notions of evolution,” natural selection causes massive changes in living things over time and can even produce rapid, explosive changes such as the Cambrian Explosion. When species show “stasis” over eons of time through massive ecological changes, biologists call those species “living fossils.” In other words, the doctrine says that unguided evolution through natural selection acting on random mutations can explain anything. Gunther Bechly, writing on scienceandculture.com, accurately stated regarding the theory of Darwinian evolution, “…a theory that is always perfectly consistent with any possible outcome is not explaining anything.”

Reference: scienceandculture.com

August 24, 2026August 17, 2026

The Difference Between Bees and Flies

I was sitting on my deck, enjoying a cool drink on a summer afternoon, when a bee kept buzzing around me and trying to get into my drink. Then, on closer examination, I realized this wasn’t a bee; it was a fly! How can you tell the difference between bees and flies?

Certain flies, especially hoverflies or drone flies, imitate bees. The various species can resemble a bee’s shape, have black-and-yellow stripes and hairy bodies, buzz around like bees, and feed on nectar from flowers. But they are not bees. You could call them fake bees, hoping to fool potential predators–and me. These bee imitators can fool you unless you look closely and know the difference between bees and flies.

One major difference is that flies have only one pair of wings, while bees have two pairs, even though their transparency may make it hard to see both pairs. Another difference is the eyes. The eyes of flies are large and cover most of their heads, but bee eyes are much smaller. Flies also have short, stubby antennae, while bees have long, slender ones. One crucial difference, as far as I’m concerned, is that bees have stingers, but flies don’t.

When one creature imitates another, it’s called Batesian mimicry. It happens among many species. A viceroy butterfly looks similar to a monarch butterfly unless you look closely. What’s the point of Batesian mimicry? Monarch butterflies have a toxic, bitter taste that deters potential predators, while viceroys do not. The monarchs get their unpleasant taste from the milkweeds their larvae feed on. One bite will scare away potential predators. Viceroys benefit by avoiding predators, even though they might make a delicious meal for a bird.

Getting back to the difference between bees and flies, bees are generally avoided because of their potential to sting. By looking like a bee, flies gain protection from their enemies. That shows great cleverness on the part of those hoverflies or drone flies, as well as the viceroy butterflies. Or does it? Actually, I’m sure those flies didn’t choose to look like bees. The cleverness goes back to the Creator who gave the insects that special protection. God provides for his creatures, including us. For that, we can be thankful.