Animals Archives

February 12, 2026February 9, 2026

The Subnivium World

People who live in regions that rarely experience snow are likely unaware of the subnivium world. Scientists call it “subnivium,” from the Latin “sub,” meaning below, and “nivis,” for snow. During winter, the subnivium world becomes active and full of life.

As snow falls, it gradually accumulates in layers that compress, forming a snowpack. When the snowpack reaches about seven inches, the subnivium world appears. This thick snowpack acts like a natural igloo, providing insulation for everything underneath. Regardless of the air temperature outside, the ground beneath the snowpack stays about 1°C above freezing.

The subnivium world isn’t dormant. Bacteria and fungi decompose plant material, consuming oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. This process, called soil respiration, makes the soil rich in carbon. In the spring, plants have the nutrients they need to grow. The soil also hosts springtails, centipedes, rove beetles, and other arthropods that move around, feed, and reproduce. These creatures become food for higher animals like shrews, moles, ground squirrels, pikas, and marmots.

The subnivium world isn’t a result of luck. Just like the environment above the snow, it exists because of careful natural engineering. The laws of thermodynamics tell us that without energy input, systems tend toward disorder, a state called entropy. Recognizing the engineering principles involved in the subnivium world shows the Creator’s intelligence and deliberate design, adding to the evidence for God’s existence.

Reference: Smithsonian Magazine for February 2026, and smithsonianmag.com

February 11, 2026February 9, 2026

Using Mosquitoes for 3D Printing

3D printing has become an invaluable tool in many fields, including industrial manufacturing, medical device development, and even hobbyist projects. These applications often demand nanometer-scale precision, which requires very small nozzles. Printing nozzles can be made from metal, plastic, glass, or even mosquito proboscises. Wait a moment! Did I read that correctly? Can a 3D printing nozzle actually be made from the tube a mosquito uses to pierce your skin and suck your blood? Yes, there is a way of using mosquitoes for 3D printing.

Scientists are experimenting with a new type of biohybrid printing that employs a female mosquito’s proboscis as a 3D printing nozzle. As you may know, female mosquitoes are the ones that feed on blood, and this approach offers a more useful way to utilize their blood-sucking appendage. It could be highly useful in advanced manufacturing, microengineering, and medical applications.

Many times, people have discovered more efficient processes or created new products from observing plants or animals. We call it biomimicry. Examples include the Velcro hook-and-loop fastening system inspired by burdock plants, self-cleaning surfaces modeled after lotus leaves, and humans learning to fly by studying bird wings. We also use natural materials from plants and animals, such as skin to make leather or wood for building homes. So, why not try using mosquitoes for 3D printing?

Traditional bioprinting tips are made of non-biodegradable materials. The finest metal tips are 35 micrometers in diameter and cost over $80 each. The smallest plastic tips are 150 micrometers in diameter, while a mosquito’s proboscis has an inner diameter of only 20 to 25 micrometers—smaller than a human hair. Lab-raised, infection-free mosquitoes cost around 2 cents each, and their proboscises are biodegradable after use. Glass tips can match the size but are more expensive and fragile.

The precision tip of a mosquito proboscis can enable high-resolution drug delivery at a significantly lower cost than other options. God has blessed us with abundant resources to advance manufacturing and medicine while safeguarding the environment. He also gave us curiosity—the drive to explore and learn new things, like using mosquitoes for 3D printing.

References: Science News for February 2026, page 27, and Science Advances

February 9, 2026March 11, 2026

Microevolution Does Not Confirm Macroevolution

Evolution, simply stated, is “change over time.” When we apply this to living organisms, we see two levels: microevolution and macroevolution. The difference between these can be simply stated. Microevolution involves changes below the species level, while macroevolution involves changes above the species level. For instance, transforming a sea creature into a land animal would be an example of macroevolution. Conversely, a bacterium developing resistance to antibiotics illustrates microevolution. The organism remains a bacterium. Microevolution does not confirm macroevolution.

We observe microevolution. Besides bacteria, we see human-directed evolution in dogs, cows, and roses. In each case, they are still dogs, cows, and roses, but with different traits. When Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species in 1859, he speculated that if his theory was correct, the “number of intermediate varieties” of living things should show up in an “enormous” number of fossils. He acknowledged that, in his time, “Geology assuredly does not reveal any such graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and greatest objection which can be urged against my theory.” However, he predicted that over time, those missing-link fossils would be discovered.

Paleontologists, scientists who study fossils, were some of Darwin’s strongest critics at the time. How is the situation today? The bottom line is that the missing links are still missing. The Field Museum of Natural History has one of the largest fossil collections in the world. In 1979, paleontologist David Raup, in the museum’s bulletin, stated, “We now have a quarter of a million fossil species, but the situation hasn’t changed much” since Darwin’s time. Famed paleontologist Niles Eldridge of the American Museum of Natural History wrote in 1985, “We paleontologists have said that the history of life supports (the Darwinian theory of gradual change), knowing all the while it does not.”

Now, more than 165 years after Darwin, the missing links are still missing, while the average person believes the fossil record proves Darwinian evolution because that is what we have been told. Microevolution does not confirm macroevolution, nor does the fossil record.

References: “Conflicts Between Darwin and Palaeontology,” Field Museum of Natural History bulletin, January 1979, p. 25; Time Frames: The Evolution of Punctuated Equilibria, Princeton University Press, 1985, pp. 144-45, and God’s Undertaker by John C. Lennox, Lion Hudson, 2009, pp. 113-14.

February 5, 2026January 31, 2026

Tile Pattern Design in the Natural World

Science News highlighted an intriguing report on tile pattern design found in nature. Biologist John Nyakatura and colleagues at Humboldt University of Berlin examined tile-like patterns in various plants and animals. They aimed to discover ways to incorporate these biological tilings into bioinspired devices. They documented 100 examples in the journal PNAS Nexus.

The skin of an elephant has a tile-like pattern, with cracks and wrinkles that trap water and mud. This arrangement helps dissipate heat and cools the elephant. Butterfly wings use overlapping tiles arranged to display colors while repelling water and reducing drag during flight. The eye of a fly features a tile pattern made of closely packed rods, each transmitting an image to the brain, making it extremely difficult to swat the fly. Instead of bones, the cartilage skeletons of sharks and rays consist of thousands of individual tiles that grow as the animals mature.

Research shows that other living organisms also benefit from tile pattern design. The sunflower’s head consists of a tile-like pattern of tiny flowers called florets. By packing the florets in a tile-like structure, the sunflower becomes more attractive to pollinators. Studies of the HIV-1 virus reveal that it has a tiled protein shell that protects its genome. Armadillos are protected by overlapping tiles that provide stiffness while allowing them to roll into a ball. The earliest forms of life also used tiles, indicating that tiles did not evolve recently by chance. The fossilized shells of ancient cephalopods, known as ammonites, show squiggles along the edges of their shell’s tiles.

Understanding the usefulness of tile designs opens the door to significant new benefits for humanity. The more we study living things, the more we recognize God’s wisdom and planning. The statement in Romans 1:20 that “we can know there is a God through the things He has made” is supported by every scientific discovery.

Reference: Science News for February 2026, Pages 8-9, and PNAS Nexus

January 21, 2026January 17, 2026

Insects Use Static Electricity

One interesting fact about the insect world is that there is no common thread connecting how each insect gets its food. You might think that if all bugs had a common origin, they would show strong similarities, with some bugs being superior because they are more highly evolved. Diversity maintains balance in the insect world, preventing any one insect from dominating. Recent studies have shown that insects use static electricity in various ways.

Some parasitic nematodes, tiny worms about the size of a pinpoint, use static electricity to jump 25 times their body length to land on a flying insect. We’ve all seen insects being blown by the wind, but what most of us haven’t noticed is the role of static electricity. A little physics helps explain why static electricity can influence nematode aerial movements. Coulomb’s Law includes a constant that describes the strength of static electricity. The gravitational constant is 6.67 x 10^-11, while the Coulomb constant is 9 x 10⁹, making the static electrical force 10²⁰ times stronger than gravity.

When a flying insect flaps its wings, it generates a positive charge. The nematodes can use this charge to leap through the air and attach to the insect, where they lay their eggs. The faster the insect beats its wings, the stronger the positive charge, and the easier it is for the nematodes to attach.

Static electricity helps many insects in various ways. Bees can sense electric fields around flowers and use them to guide their foraging. Spider webs deform toward positively charged flying insects, trapping them. Ticks are attracted by the static electricity in the fur coats of animals. Researcher Sam England expects to find that electrostatic effects “play countless roles throughout the natural world.”

The complexity of Earth’s biosystem is immense and hard to explain as a product of blind chance. God’s creative genius is evident in the very large, but is especially clear when we study the very small.

Reference: “Static Launch” in the January 2026 issue of Scientific American (pages 18-19) and scientificamerican.com

January 14, 2026January 2, 2026

Butterfly Timing Discovery

If you read a textbook on the evolution of butterflies, you will see that the evolutionary model holds that butterflies appeared after flowering plants provided the pollen needed for their survival. There was no fossil evidence to definitively prove this model, but it made sense and fits the evolution model well. A recent discovery, however, has changed scientists’ understanding of butterfly timing.

New studies of coprolite from prehistoric plant-eating animals challenge this model. Coprolite is fossilized animal dung, and one such fossil found in Talampaya National Park in Argentina contains butterfly remains. This fossilized feces predates the existence of flowering plants. The question then is: what did the butterflies eat? The answer appears to be that plants of that era—mainly conifers and cycads—secreted droplets of a sugary substance that would have been an ideal food source for butterflies.

The key point is that the timing of butterfly emergence, based on the fossil record, does not support the traditional evolutionary model. There are many instances where accepted models of life development are contradicted by evidence, and this is another example. Insects are a vital food source for higher life forms, so the creation of various insects laid the foundation for later life. Like all of God’s timing in creation, butterfly timing was perfect.

We can learn much about the history of life on our planet by reading the biblical account, and even more by combining that with insights from the fossil record. One of our publications, titled “God’s Revelation in His Rocks and in His Word,” is available free at doesgodexist.org.

Reference: discovermagazine.com and Discover for January 2026, pages 10-11.

January 13, 2026December 31, 2025

Downy Woodpecker Dynamics

One of the interesting birds we see here in Michigan is the downy woodpecker. We have discussed before how woodpeckers avoid brain damage while hammering out insects embedded in trees. Watching downy woodpecker dynamics as they pound hundreds of times per minute with a force 30 times their body weight, you would expect them to have concussions. But the design of the woodpecker’s head and brain prevents brain damage.

Behavioral psychologist Nicholas Antonson at Brown University, with the help of colleagues, captured eight downy woodpeckers and examined the muscular and vascular systems that enable their unique behavior. The researchers found that these woodpeckers exhale with each strike, and their muscular system is coordinated with this breath control, resulting in consistent hammering.

Downy woodpecker dynamics require a complex muscular system, as neck muscles activate to pull the head back even before other muscles complete the forward motion. A hip muscle controls the power of the strike, while tail muscles brace the bird just before impact.

The muscles and breathing systems work at a rate of 13 times per second, with a 40-millisecond inhale period between each strike. This coordination of muscles and breath allows the woodpecker to find food, control insects, and communicate territorial claims to other woodpeckers. It also reflects God’s creative design of the systems in living things.

Reference: “Woodpecker hammering is a full-body affair” by Anna Gibbs in Science News, January 2026, page 21

January 7, 2026December 30, 2025

God’s Magic Bullet – Dsup

As scientists explore the design of life more deeply, they discover increasing evidence of God’s creative wisdom. God knew humans would encounter destructive agents like cancer and COVID and would require a weapon to overcome Satan’s work. Scientists may have found that weapon in a previously unknown protein in microscopic animals called tardigrades. This protein has been named “Damage Suppressor” or Dsup. We call it God’s magic bullet.

Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are incredible animals. Researchers have found these tiny creatures to be almost indestructible. Tardigrades can survive being placed in boiling water, frozen, or exposed to radiation levels 2000 times higher than what human cells can tolerate. They are the only animals known to survive in outer space. Scientists have wondered how this microscopic animal can endure conditions that would kill other animals or humans. The Dsup protein can bind along the entire length of the DNA molecule and act as a shield against attempts to damage it. That’s why it’s called the Damage Suppressor protein.

Dsup has enormous potential to treat diseases or disorders with a genetic component. Diseases that damage DNA include cancer, COVID, and even strokes and heart attacks. No Darwinian theory explains the origin of the tardigrade or the protein that could be key to curing diseases. Yesterday, we discussed the discovery of orphan genes that code for unique proteins that don’t fit the Darwinian pattern of small genetic changes leading to gradual evolution. The Dsup protein appears to be the result of one such orphan gene.

The Damage Suppressor protein might help us cure diseases, lessen DNA damage from chemotherapy and radiation, shield against radiation during space missions, and prevent crop damage on Earth. That’s why we call it God’s magic bullet.

Reference: TheConversation.com

December 22, 2025December 19, 2025

The Shrimp and the Urchin

The oceans host many symbiotic relationships. In symbiosis, plants and animals live together in ways that benefit them and often others nearby. This is the story of the shrimp and the urchin.

Coleman shrimp (Perclimenes colemani) eat parasites they take from fish that come close to them in the western Pacific Ocean. These shrimp were not discovered until 1975, perhaps because they blend in very well with the sea urchins with which they have a symbiotic relationship. The picture shows the spotted body and striped legs of the Coleman shrimp surrounded by the striped tube feet of the fire sea urchin (Asthenosoma varium).

Coleman shrimp are known as cleaner shrimp because they remove parasites from fish. Most cleaner shrimp live in sea anemones, but Coleman shrimp prefer to live in fire sea urchins. The venom-tipped spines of the fire urchin do not harm the Coleman shrimp, and they protect them from potential predators. Meanwhile, fish infected with parasites approach the Coleman shrimp to have the parasites removed. The parasites are food for the shrimp, and the fish don’t eat the shrimp or the fire sea urchin because of its poisonous spines.

We see a balanced symbiotic relationship among various species of ocean creatures. The shrimp and the urchin, along with many fish that benefit, are just some examples of symbiosis—where different plant and animal species depend directly on each other. In many cases, a species could not survive without this mutual relationship. This is another sign of design in living creatures, and design points to a Designer.

December 18, 2025December 15, 2025

Origin-of-Life Theories and Archaea

Scientists aim to answer several very difficult questions about origins. Two of these questions relate to the origins of life and complex life. Some scientists believe they are getting closer to discovering how complex life developed from simple life, and the media often sensationalizes any origin-of-life theories.

Living things are classified into three domains. We are very familiar with multicellular life, which includes plants, animals, and people. That is the domain of eukarya, or complex life. There are two domains of single-celled life—bacteria and archaea. Most people are more familiar with bacteria than archaea. Scientists did not recognize how distinct archaea are from bacteria until the 1970s, when DNA analysis began.

The cells of bacteria and archaea are relatively simple and small compared to eukaryotic cells, which have a nucleus, mitochondria to supply energy, and other internal structures. In the 1960s, one group of microbiologists described the gap between eukaryotes and the single-celled bacteria and archaea as “the greatest single evolutionary discontinuity to be found in the present-day world.” Evolutionists seeking origin-of-life theories had to find a way to bridge this very wide gap.

In 2008, researchers discovered a new type of archaea living in hydrothermal vents on the Atlantic Mid-Ocean Ridge. They said these archaea “seemed to be somehow closer to eukaryotes than what we knew before.” In 2015, a paper published in the journal Nature described them as “the closest known living relatives of eukaryotes,” creating a scientific sensation. Their genomes were said to contain genes that are “hallmarks of eukaryotes.”

Scientists theorized that the Asgard archaea, as they came to be called, absorbed bacteria that became mitochondria, but there was still no evidence of a nucleus. Research and debate on this are expected to continue for years, but it has sparked new speculation about extraterrestrial life. Some have suggested that unicellular life on other planets could evolve into eukaryotic, advanced life. But that assumes there is unicellular life on other planets.

Scientists proposing origin-of-life theories still have no idea how non-living matter could turn into living, reproducing cells. Be cautious when you see media stories about scientists being close to discovering the origin of life or the origin of complex life. Even simple cells are far too complex to have arisen by chance without a Designer.

Reference: sciencenews.org