Animals Archives

January 8, 2025January 7, 2025

Designed to Soar

You would think that by this time, we would know all there is to know about birds, but an international group of researchers found that soaring birds are designed differently from non-soaring birds. Using computer (CT) scans, the researchers found that soaring birds have an air-filled sac attached to their lungs. This subpectoral diverticulum air sac exists in diverse soaring birds, including bald eagles, turkey vultures, brown pelicans, and western gulls. The researchers did not find it in any non-soaring birds. This feature shows that some birds are designed to soar.

The subpectoral diverticulum appears to boost the power of the flight muscles, allowing the birds to stay aloft for long periods without flapping their wings. As the researchers studied 68 species broadly representing the diversity of birds on Earth, they found the air sac only in the lines of soaring birds. Lead author Dr. Emma Schachner of the University of Florida said, “This evolutionary pattern strongly suggests that this unique structure is functionally significant for soaring flight.” But how can evolution explain that lines of soaring birds “evolved” this trait independently? Evolutionary biologists call it “convergent evolution,” but we suggest it shows intelligent design.

The diversity seen in birds is amazing. Some, such as penguins, don’t fly but travel underwater. Others, including ostriches, don’t fly but travel by foot on dry land. Now, we see that soaring birds are designed to soar. An essential point to remember is that evolution does not create anything. It simply modifies what has already been created. Finding a way to create an air sac from an existing structure to supplement flight is a challenge for evolutionists. This structure shows that some birds were designed to soar from the start.

In Job 38-39, God poses questions for Job to answer, and He draws on the diversity He built into birds. The raven in Job 38:41 is very different from the ostrich of Job 39:13-16. In Job 39:26-27, God asks about the hawk and the eagle. Job couldn’t answer those questions, and we are still trying to answer some of them today. It is a wonderful time to be alive as we learn new things about the handiwork of God.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
References: National Wildlife magazine for the winter of 2025, page 9, and the journal Nature.

January 6, 2025January 5, 2025

Science Has Identified Only Ten Percent of Species

Science Has Identified Only Ten Percent of Living Species

Romans 1:20 tells us that we can know God exists by the evidence we see in the things He has made. That includes the universe and all it contains, most of which we will never see. The evidence most visible to us consists of the plants and animals we encounter in our daily lives. But even in that area, our experience is limited. Those who study living things say that science has identified only ten percent of species.

Evidence that science has much to learn comes from the fact that researchers discovered hundreds of new species in 2024. Scientists connected to the California Academy of Sciences described 138 new species, including fish. Those working with the Natural History Museum of London cataloged 190 new species last year. Other scientists working with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, UK, described 149 new species of plants and 23 species of fungi, including a toadstool with teeth.

The creatures discovered and described in 2024 include a vegetarian piranha in Brazil and a moth species in Madagascar that gets its nourishment by drinking the tears of sleeping birds. Four new snake species and four previously unknown rat species became known last year. Botanists working in Indonesia identified five new species of orchids.

How many more animal, plant, and fungus species will scientists identify this year? We don’t know, but since science has identified only ten percent of species, the job is far from complete. Knowing that we have seen only a small portion of God’s creation in space and even on Earth, the evidence for God in the things He has made is massive.

Reference: cnn.com

January 3, 2025January 5, 2025

Heart Cockle Fiber Optics

God has equipped all living things with some method of survival. Research on the heart cockle, a small clam that lives in shallow waters in the Indian and Pacific oceans, has shown that it uses fiber optics to get sunlight through its shell to supply the food it needs.

Heart cockles get their food from algae living within their shells in a symbiotic relationship, benefiting both parties. The algae get sunlight through a crystalline form of calcium carbonate called aragonite arranged in tiny tubes that function like fiber-optic cables. These tubes allow visible light to pass through the cockle’s shell while blocking infrared and ultraviolet light. The algae use the light to produce sugars and other nutrients that benefit the clam while the clam protects the algae within its shell.

According to Science News, the aragonite can channel light without the reflective coatings that telecommunications fiber optics require. While filtering out harmful ultraviolet light, the fiber optic-like structures are “finely tuned to balance the shell’s mechanical strength with its ability to efficiently transmit light.” The “finely tuned” heart cockle shell design had to have a designer, and trying to explain it by chance alone requires a vivid imagination. This is one more evidence that God has designed a vast number of ways for life to survive.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: Science News December 14 & 28, 2024, page 10

January 2, 2025December 31, 2024

The Fear of Snakes

Everything in existence had a reason to be created, even snakes. There are over 3600 species of snakes, and roughly 725 of them are venomous. However, only about 200 species can harm or fatally injure a human with just one bite. The fear of snakes is common. Snakes vary in size, with the smallest being the Barbados thread snake, which grows to a maximum of roughly 4 inches. The largest found so far is a reticulated python, 23 feet long and weighing over 215 pounds.

So, why are people afraid of snakes? Movie watchers may remember the scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” when Indiana Jones looked over ruins and saw the floor was covered with snakes. He muttered, “Snakes, why did it have to be snakes!” The fear of snakes predates Indiana Jones. Many Bible passages involve snakes. When Moses threw his stick on the ground in Exodus 4:1-3, it became a snake, and Moses ran from it.

Why do snakes exist, and what lessons do they have for us? First, on a scientific level, snakes are incredibly well-designed to eat warm-blooded pests. They smell by using their forked tongues to collect airborne scent particles. They deposit those particles on special organs called vomeronasal or Jacobson’s organs on the roof of their mouths. In addition, snakes have nerves on their underside, which are very sensitive to vibration. These features enable snakes to go into a burrow and remove a rodent that would otherwise be a pest to humans. Snakes are rarely aggressive. They bite when someone invades the snake’s territory or deliberately antagonizes it.

In Mark 16:17-18 Jesus speaks about snakes as He describes His followers: “…they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Some denominations have handled snakes as a part of their worship service. This display of bravado is not what Jesus was talking about. At the time Jesus spoke, there were no scriptures to allow a person to whether or not a messenger was from God. Jesus said his messengers would be fluent in many languages and able to handle snakes, drink poison, and heal the sick 100% of the time. None of the current “snake handlers” can do all of those things. We learn from 1 Corinthians 13:8 that those things are unnecessary after God’s perfect word became available.

In Genesis 3:1-4, was Eve dealing with a talking snake? Was the curse on the snake in verses 14-15 to crawl for future generations? Looking at all these verses, it seems that the message is spiritual and involves offspring. You can see that in the highly symbolic contrast between crushing the head and striking the heel. The theological debate on these questions has gone on for thousands of years.

Despite the fear of snakes, the bottom line is that snakes serve humans in marvelous ways. They should be respected rather than feared. Genesis reminds us of Satan’s power and the importance of living as God has told us to.

December 27, 2024December 23, 2024

Wildlife in Winter and Conifers

Wildlife in Winter survive because of conifer forests

Winter presents new challenges for all of us, but God has made unique provisions for wildlife in winter. One of the most interesting is the conifers and what they provide for birds.

Winter does not threaten northern birds because all the food and shelter they need is available in four conifers. Berries last through the winter on winterberry holly, Virginia creeper, and trumpet honeysuckle. Cedars have cones and attract insects like carpenter ants that birds eat. Cedar waxwings, golden-crowned kinglets, and pileated woodpeckers thrive on Cedars. Spruce trees have seeds that feed evening grosbeaks, fox sparrows, and juncos. Fir trees provide for nuthatches, chickadees, and spotted owls. Birds can open the cones of white pines to eat the seeds, with nutcrackers and crossbill finches being the most adept.

Conifers exist virtually everywhere on planet Earth, which means bird habitats are available everywhere. The survival of wildlife in winter is possible for birds, other animals, and the plants they depend on. While tropical areas might seem ideal for birds, winter offers freedom from most parasites and provides a host of food and shelter sources. Conifers grow at high elevations and high latitudes where other plants could not exist.

There is amazing diversity everywhere we look on our planet, providing a great testimony to the wisdom and design God has put into His creation. Genesis 8:22 indicates that summer and winter are built into the creation, and Psalms 74:17 tells us God is the creator of summer and winter. As we look outside here in Michigan, we see many birds thriving despite the snow and ice. The survival of wildlife in winter is based on the protection they have from the cold and the food that is readily available to birds in the conifers.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: Audubon magazine for winter, 2024 page 50. Also of interest is audubon.org/plantsforbirds.

December 26, 2024December 23, 2024

The Value of a Dinosaur Fossil

What is the value of a dinosaur fossil? In 2024, the current record price for a fossilized dinosaur skeleton is $44,600,000 paid for a Stegosaurus fossil nicknamed Apex. The fossil, found in Colorado in 2022, is 27 feet long and 11 ½ feet tall. Kenneth C. Griffin, who bought the Stegosaurus fossil, is loaning it to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, which expects millions of visitors to come and see it. The previous record for a dinosaur fossil was $31,800,000 paid in 2020 for a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil named Stan, which is going to be displayed in Abu Dhabi. A T-rex fossil named Sue, on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, sold in 1997 for a mere $8.3 million.

What is the value of a dinosaur fossil that can command such enormous prices? Griffin says, “Apex offers a unique window into our planet’s distant past. The joy and awe every child feels coloring a Stegosaurus with their crayons will now be brought to life for the millions of people who have the opportunity to see this epic dinosaur in person.”

Are there religious or biblical connections to finding a dinosaur fossil? For some religious denominations, the answer may be negative. It is difficult to imagine how humans could exist with an animal of this size. As people look at this colossal dinosaur fossil they may be unable to accept the idea that humans and dinosaurs were contemporaries, and they would be right.

The Genesis account contains no Hebrew word that could be translated as “dinosaur” or “Stegosaurus. “Some people refer to “Behemoth” in Job chapter 40. The word “behemah” is used 51 times in the Bible, including Genesis 1:24-25 and refers to cattle. Stegosaurus was not a cow! “Remes” is also used in these verses referring to creeping creatures (also in Genesis 9:3) and is used 16 times in the biblical record. The “creation week” clearly refers to animals that the people of Moses’ time were familiar with, and that would not have included dinosaurs. The term “leviathan” (Job 41:1 and Psalms 104:26) refers to a great water creature, but Stegosaurus was not a water creature.

Dinosaurs were creatures God used to prepare the Earth for humans. Imagine the volume of plant material that Stegosaurus would have eaten every day. You can understand how they were instrumental in pruning the plants and spreading their seeds to provide the coal and mineral deposits humans would need. Like everything God does, the scale of what He did after Genesis 1:2 and before the Genesis creation week was massive. So, what is the value of a dinosaur fossil? We can join in the awe of seeing God’s plan as we look at dinosaur fossils like Apex, Stan, and Sue without feeling any doubt in our minds about the message of Genesis.

December 19, 2024December 17, 2024

Cardinals Are Redder in Winter

I thought it was my imagination that when the Christmas season rolled around, the cardinal that came to my feeder was more brilliant red than I had ever seen before. Then I received an article from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that made me realize what I observed was true – cardinals are redder in winter.

After the breeding season and when food is abundant, northern cardinals molt their feathers and grow new ones. During autumn molting, the cardinals look ugly, with areas of dark exposed skin and even some baldness. The ugly areas become covered with feathers tipped in gray. The gray feather tips wear off, exposing the brilliant red underfeathers. The birds reach the peak of brilliance by midwinter ahead of the spring breeding season.

The color change isn’t just for us to enjoy. It also attracts female cardinals. Studies at Cornell have shown that brighter red cardinals mate earlier and nest in better habitats, producing more offspring. The redness comes from carotenoids, pigments that occur naturally in foods such as red and purple fruits. Honeysuckle has red berries, as does dogwood and winterberry. All cardinals eat the same foods, but only the males reveal the pigments in brilliant reds.

Male cardinals are redder in winter because the genetics of the males and females are different enough to cause a color difference between the two sexes. Building a genome that produces this beautiful color is not easy. There are alternative ways males could attract females, as seen in other bird species.

Cardinals remind us that color and beauty are characteristics God has given us to enjoy. It was not an accident of some mutation that painted male cardinals red. We see amazing color in cardinals as well as peacocks, pheasants, painted buntings, parrots, splendid fairywrens, and lilac-breasted rollers, to mention just a few.

It is not your imagination that cardinals are redder in winter. Enjoy the beauty God has given us in His unique life forms in the sky.

December 16, 2024December 15, 2024

Flamingo Complexity

The complexity of living things gives evidence of design rather than accidental chance. Flamingos that live in southern Florida, the Galapagos Islands, and throughout the Caribbean provide an example of that complexity. You have probably seen photographs of these five-foot-tall pink birds wading in shallow waters and using their long necks to find food. The pink color comes from pigments in their foods, such as brine shrimp and algae. The color is absorbed by body fat and deposited in the flamingo’s feathers. Flamingo complexity involves more than color.

Flamingos move their heads through the water because their tongues pump water into their bills, where comblike structures strain out their food. This activity helps purify the water and provides nutrition for the flamingos. Their legs are an engineering marvel. What looks like a backward knee is actually an ankle joint that can be locked. You would think that a bird with no talons and no sharp beak would be easy prey for various animals that live in coastal areas. The reality is that flamingos can rest and even sleep with their ankle locked while standing on one leg in the water far from shore, out of the reach of predators.

Flamingo complexity also involves their efficient reproductive system, with monogamous pairs producing one egg a year. They build a mound away from the shore and take turns incubating the egg by sitting on the nest mound. During incubation, the flamingo will frequently stand, stretch its wings, preen itself, and carefully lift and turn the egg with its bill. The incubation period is between 27 and 31 days.

The more we learn about the unique design of various birds, the more we have to doubt that this is the product of blind opportunistic chance. In Job 39:13-30, God challenges Job to explain the unique characteristics of birds, including the ostrich, stork, hawk, and eagle. If flamingos lived in Job’s area, they surely would be included as an example of God’s wisdom and design.

December 12, 2024December 11, 2024

Sentient Beings and Purpose

A columnist featured in papers across the country is an animal doctor named Dr. Michael Fox. Dr. Fox believes that humans are not the only sentient beings, echoing the writings of those who deny that humans have any special properties or any right to use animals. This opposes the biblical view of humans and what God intended humans to do and eat. In Genesis 9:3, we read, “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 dictionary tells us that “sentient” comes from the Latin word meaning “feeling,” and it describes things that are alive, able to feel and perceive and show awareness or responsiveness. Having senses makes something sentient, or able to smell, communicate, touch, see, or hear. Dr. Fox and others cling to the idea that everything fits that definition, even applying it to nonliving objects: “atoms and stars … with their consciousness evolving with increasing complexity and individuation.”

Where do claims like Dr. Fox’s lead? First, it denies humans’ needs to enable them to survive. What do you eat if everything is equivalent and equal to human beings? Even if this concept is applied only to animals, you have an impossible situation. The world population of humans requires the consumption of proteins and minerals that we can’t obtain from a diet of only plants.

The most crucial aspect of understanding humans as unique sentient beings is that it gives purpose to life. Sentient beings can perceive, show awareness, and respond. Animals like dogs have senses designed for survival, including seeing, smelling, touching, hearing, and communicating. They do not have an awareness of self or a way of understanding that their existence has a purpose. They have no concept of a life beyond their present existence.

All humans need to take care of the world in which we live. That means caring for animals and plants in such a way that they thrive. Christians have a special reason for doing this because our Creator has challenged us to “take care of the garden (the planet)” (Genesis 2:15). We find this concept throughout the teachings of Jesus. Over and over, Jesus called us to love one another. The Greek word used for love is “agape,” meaning “to consider of enormous value.” We CAN love our enemy (Matthew 5:43-45) if we understand that our enemy is a unique being created in the image of God. Our enemies, like ourselves, are sentient beings with a purpose for existing.

December 10, 2024December 9, 2024

Eye Design is Marvelously Complex

Eye design is marvelously complex. Human vision, with its rods and cones, is just one method of seeing, but other life forms have methods allowing them to see wavelengths we can’t see. Insects have compound eye structures consisting of individual units called ommatidia. Under the lens of each ommatidium, a transparent structure called a rhabdom stores photosensitive pigments known as opsins. Various types of opsins can detect different colors. The more kinds of opsins an insect has in its rhabdom, the more colors it can see.

Each insect has a different set of opsins depending on what it needs. Bees, for example, have a large combination of opsins, allowing them to see many colors of flowers. Some butterflies have opsins that enable them to see a particular plant. For example, monarchs can see milkweed plants, which their caterpillars need for nourishment. Dragonflies have a set of opsins that enable them to see ultraviolet light that human eyes can’t see. Dragonflies eat other insects, including some that are underwater, and ultraviolet vision allows them to see their prey.

The fossil record shows that insects used this method of color vision before the color vision method used by humans. Eye design is marvelously complex and highly designed to allow life to function in a world that needs balance and control. The more we see of the creation of living things, the more evidence we see for intelligence and design in the world around us.