Animals Archives

April 29, 2022April 28, 2022

Keystone Plants and Caterpillars

As we think of the design of life in our world, we tend to focus on animals, birds, and fish. As scientists study the things that support these life forms, it becomes apparent that all land life on this planet depends on keystone plants and caterpillars. Plants capture solar energy during photosynthesis, but how that energy gets into a bird or other animal is primarily through caterpillars.

Caterpillars transfer more energy from plants than any other form of life. Ninety-six percent of terrestrial birds depend on the protein-packed bodies of caterpillars for food. Most of us are familiar with monarch butterflies that deposit their eggs on milkweeds because they are the only plants their caterpillars can eat. North America has 17,000 native plant species, and having a caterpillar that can eat plants from only the milkweed genus is very rare. Some plants are called “keystone” plants because they support many different caterpillars and other species.

The superstars of the keystone plants are the oak trees that provide food for 952 species of butterfly/moth (Lepidopteran) caterpillars. In addition to that, nesting birds, woodpeckers, squirrels, and other animals survive because of oak trees. A single oak tree will support tens of thousands of individual species of life in its lifetime. Goldenrod is another keystone plant, and it blooms from late summer to fall when other plants can’t support caterpillars. There are more than 100 goldenrod species in America, and they support both caterpillars and bees.

North American ecosystems are designed so that caterpillars are available to support birds and other caterpillar eaters. God’s intricate design of life is evident in keystone plants and caterpillars that eat them, transferring energy from the Sun to many birds and other animals.

As we learn about the creation we live in, we see more and more examples of God’s wisdom in design that sustains all life and speaks of the complexity of what may appear to be simple things.

Reference: National Wildlife, April-May 2022, pages 29-35.

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022

Diatoms Are Essential for Life on Earth

We seldom think about the importance of microscopic organisms. Diatoms are essential for life on Earth because they generate 20-30% of the oxygen we breathe. They are single-celled algae with a cell wall made of silica. In March 2022, the National Science Foundation announced the discovery of two unique diatom species in the waters around Hawaii.

Diatoms live in the oceans and waterways. You may be familiar with diatomaceous earth, which has many commercial uses, including pest control in organic gardening. It consists of the empty silica shells that diatoms leave behind. In addition to generating oxygen, diatoms are essential for life as part of the food chain in the oceans.

Like green plants, diatoms need nitrogen to grow. Marine diatoms thrive in nutrient-rich ocean areas such as the Gulf of Mexico. However, the open ocean waters around Hawaii lack significant nitrogen nutrients. Ocean waters contain dissolved nitrogen gas, but the diatoms can’t use it. These two species of diatoms solve that problem by having a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. These bacteria do not contain chlorophyll for photosynthesis, but they can extract nitrogen from ocean water and convert it to ammonia. In turn, the diatoms can use the nitrogen from the ammonia. In a symbiotic relationship, the newly discovered diatom species take the nitrogen-fixing bacteria into their shells to nurture their own personal nitrogen generators.

We have mentioned many symbiotic relationships before, but here is a microscopic one. Diatoms are essential for life because they provide much of the oxygen we breathe. This symbiotic relationship between diatoms and bacteria is another example of God’s wisdom and design for life. Everywhere we look, we see that God has designed and implemented systems that sustain life in all kinds of environments.

Reference: National Science Foundatio n

April 25, 2022April 24, 2022

The Incredible Journeys of Birds

One of the great examples of design that we see in the natural world is the ability of birds to migrate thousands of miles from one area of the world to another. In the past, we have reviewed several of these incredible journeys of birds.

Bar-tailed godwits hold the record, with some individuals traveling over 8100 miles without food or rest and covering 7000 miles one way in nine days. We are also amazed by Hudsonian godwits, arctic terns, and many other birds. Even the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is amazing, flying 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop with wings beating 50 times per second.

Our knowledge of bird migration has improved with the advent of microchips and new technology to track movements and analysis of bird DNA. Even so, there are still unanswered questions. For example, how do birds prepare their bodies for flight? How do birds know when to migrate? How do migrating birds find their way? How do birds sleep on long migratory flights? These are just a few of many questions researchers are looking to answer about the incredible journeys of birds.

The National Audubon Society published a special issue of their excellent magazine for spring 2022. This issue is the best we have seen on the design and behavior of birds. It is impossible to read through this magazine and not be impressed with the wisdom and design built into the world of birds. It also challenges us to realize the importance of caring for God’s creatures as human encroachment threatens many birds’ survival.

In Job 39:13-18 and 26 – 30, God challenges Job to understand His creation, including birds. Scientists are still feeling that challenge today. We are just beginning to know how much design is built into the incredible journeys of birds.

For more on this go to audubon.org or read their article on bird migration.

April 18, 2022April 15, 2022

Learning About Lepidopterans

One of the joys of life is the ability we all have to learn beyond school or college. Learning often happens when we contact someone who knows a lot about a subject we have never studied. For example, we recently visited the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where we met specialists in butterflies and moths. So naturally, we were interested in learning about lepidopterans.

The order Lepidoptera includes butterflies and moths, and we learned that there are 2932 species of these insects in Florida. Studies have revealed incredible details about these creatures’ surprising complexity and design. The word “lepidoptera” means “scale wings,” and these creatures have microscopic scales on their wings. They have four wings – a pair in front and a pair in the back. Their bodies have three parts, a head, a thorax, and an abdomen with three pairs of jointed legs attached to the thorax.

Butterflies and moths taste with their feet, which means when they land on something, they immediately know whether it is food or not. These creatures breathe through tiny valves on the sides of their abdomen called spiracles, and they eat through a long tube called a proboscis. Butterflies are active during the day, and moths are active at night, with very few exceptions. Coming out of their heads between their eyes are antennae. In butterflies, the antennae are club-shaped, and in moths, they taper to a point. When a moth attaches to a surface, sensitive cells detect moisture, temperature, and exposure to the wind and rain.

Butterfly antennae have cells sensitive to the pollen of whatever plant its caterpillars need to survive. Each butterfly has a particular sensitivity to a specific plant or group of plants. For example, monarch butterflies are sensitive to milkweed. Farmers know which butterflies produce caterpillars that eat certain crops. In the natural world, the caterpillars of moths and butterflies are food for many larger creatures. When humans eradicate those predators, we upset the balance, causing problems for humans. Learning about lepidopterans and the environment is essential for understanding how to maintain balance. God did not design butterflies and moths to be destructive, but when we mismanage the environment, the result is a problem for humans raising crops.

The complexity of butterflies and moths is impressive. They have their larval ability to eat plants and produce silk to make a cocoon and morph into adults with the beautiful colors and designs of wing scales. Learning to control the destructive nature of caterpillars requires an understanding of the complexity of these remarkable creatures. Without the help of mature insects as pollinators, many other plants would suffer. Learning about lepidopterans shows us God’s excellent design of life.

April 15, 2022April 13, 2022

In the Shadow of NASA

The John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida gets a lot of attention from the media. However, most people probably are not aware that attached to the Space Center in the shadow of NASA is the Canaveral National Seashore/Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It has 69,000 acres of marsh left undeveloped and managed by the National Park Service. Researchers have identified 1045 plant species and 310 bird species in the shadow of NASA.

A dozen species of wildlife that are federally listed as endangered live there, including sea turtles, West Indian manatees, wood storks, eastern indigo snakes, and Florida scrub jays. In addition, there are the usual animals found in Florida, including land tortoises, otters, armadillos, and a wild assortment of crabs, insects, oysters, clams, and shrimp.

We had the pleasure of visiting this refuge the second week of April in 2022. It was interesting to watch hundreds of birds wading through the marsh, eating crabs and shrimp. We also saw mullet jumping as they were chased by larger fish and alligators basking in the Sun and then looking up to see a rocket being prepared to lift astronauts to the space station.

The refuge is a barrier island with sand dunes covered with various plants, including numerous palm trees and ancient oaks covered with Spanish moss and palmetto and sea oats. The National Park Service has built wooden walkways to control human traffic, allowing a natural environment to function within sight of the Kennedy Space Center in the shadow of NASA.

Just north of this area is New Smyrna Beach with its towering resorts, massive numbers of tourist attractions, and where people can drive vehicles on the beach. That area is essentially a biological desert with some gulls and pelicans and various sparrows, vultures, and blackbirds, but nothing like what we see in the wildlife refuge. The primary vegetation is a variety of human-introduced plants decorating the resorts. As you drive through the area, you see the trunks of dead palm trees everywhere but very little wildlife. Meanwhile, construction continues on more resorts and tourist complexes.

What happens when a hurricane hits this area? In the wildlife refuge, the answer is almost nothing. The vegetation holds the dunes and prevents the destruction of the plants and wildlife that depends on them. We all know about the collapse of the resort tower in this area, which tragically killed several people. No human structure is free from the elements. The human-introduced plants are generally wiped out in a hurricane and have to be replanted. Human attempts to control the area are at the mercy of natural processes. As the climate warms and water levels rise, more human-made structures will be destroyed, but what God constructed will survive. The refuge will change, and the wildlife and plant life will adapt, but it will do quite well left alone.

It was interesting to see the challenges facing the park service in the refuge. Roads don’t do well, and wooden structures have to be replaced. Meanwhile, the natural world functions smoothly and efficiently with an abundance of residential and migratory life. As humans try to control parts of nature, we constantly need to rebuild and replace. “And God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit … and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12). You can see how good it is when you visit an area not corrupted by human ignorance, greed, and selfishness.

Data from National Park Foundation publication Canaveral/Merritt Island 2021.

April 12, 2022April 11, 2022

The Mighty Seahorse Threatened

“The mighty seahorse” suggests a massive stallion galloping across the ocean’s waves. The reality is that these amazing fish range from 5⁄8 inch to 14 inches (1.5 to 35.5 cm), and they are threatened.

There are 46 identified species of seahorses, and the scientific classification is Hippocampus from the ancient Greek for ‘horse” and “sea monster.” This fish has a head like a horse and eyes that function independently and can rotate like a chameleon’s. They have a pouch like a kangaroo and a prehensile tail like a monkey. Instead of scales, their skin is covered with boney plates, spikes, and lacy skin extensions. They swim in a vertical posture using their dorsal fin for power while steering with their pectoral fins. They anchor themselves using the prehensile tail to grab onto a fixed object.

The reproductive system of the seahorse family is unlike any other group of animals. The male and female connect face to face with their tails entwining, and the female impregnates the male by depositing massive numbers of eggs in his pouch. Then, several weeks later, the males eject up to a thousand baby seahorses who will drift with the current, eventually settling down on seagrass or coral or any fixed object on the seafloor.

Seahorses eat smaller forms of sea life, including copepods, shrimp, and fish larvae. They are themselves part of the food chain eaten by larger fish. Commercial fishing operations catch 76 million seahorses a year, and human exploitation has endangered these animals.

Human understanding of all the agents of change and balance in the oceans is very limited. The role of the seahorse in the functioning of a healthy ocean has only recently become understood. The ocean system has a complex influence on life on the land. As we learn more, the complexity speaks of a design that makes chance an unlikely cause. God’s design of life on Earth is clearly seen through what has been made (Romans 1:20). The mighty seahorse is an excellent demonstration of that design.

Reference: National Geographic, April 2022, page 72-85.

April 9, 2022April 9, 2022

Jonah’s Icefish and Animals of the Cold

Animals of the Cold include Jonah's Icefish and Ooligans

Deep-sea biologists from Germany accidentally discovered a massive colony of icefish nests under the ice in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. The fish known as Jonah’s icefish have formed a colony the researchers estimate to contain 60 million nests 500 meters below the sea ice. The animals of the cold always amaze us.

Jonah’s icefish are nesting fish that carve out circular nests with rocky centers on the seafloor, where they lay over 1,000 eggs. Other ocean and freshwater fish species form nests, including bluegills that nest in the lakes of the midwestern United States. However, bluegill breeding colonies are limited to a few hundred individuals, not millions. Like bluegills that feed on small aquatic life and are food for larger fish, Jonah’s icefish play an essential role as food for the Weddell seals, and they feed on the abundant plankton in the Antarctic waters.

When it comes to animals of the cold, Jonah’s icefish are like the ooligan (eulachon) fish of Alaskan waters in that their blood is full of antifreeze compounds. Ooligans have so much oil in their bodies that if you dry the fish and put a wick in its mouth, it will burn like a candle. In Alaska, a nickname for the ooligan is the “candlefish.”

Many animals are specially designed to live in very cold conditions. For example, one of the books in our children’s book collection is titled Animals of the Cold, written by Charlsey Ford. As well as the ooligan, that book discusses the musk ox, ice worms, and the Kermode bear. All of these animals are specially designed to live in the extreme cold.

We see God’s design in every ecological system on our planet. Each time we find a new example, we are amazed at God’s creative design of life. Romans 1:19-22 reminds us that “We can know there is a God through the things He has made.” Jonah’s icefish is another excellent example of that truth.

— John N. Clayton 2022

References: Science News February 12, 2022, pages 12-13, and Current Biology volume 32, issue 4.

The complete set of our children’s books is available HERE.

April 8, 2022April 4, 2022

The Purpose of Beauty

Humans are obsessed with beauty. We try to make ourselves more beautiful with clothing and cosmetics. We seek to create beauty in music and art, and we continually long for something even more beautiful. But, what is the purpose of beauty, and how can we explain excessive beauty in nature? That is what we have called “the problem of beauty,” which we have discussed all this week.

Beauty is not to provide protection or to solve problems. The purpose of beauty is to bring joy, peace, and meaning to life. However, as we seek beauty, we long for something even more beautiful. We strive to create it, and we desire to find it in people and in nature.

The prophet Isaiah in a vision, saw God’s throne room where one seraph cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). God’s glory is displayed in the beauty we see on this planet. The curse of sin has marred that beauty, but it still peaks through. It reminds us of the Creator of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). Theologian N.T. Wright asked the question that we all face at some time, “If the earth is full of God’s glory, why is it also so full of pain and anguish and screaming and despair?” That is what we call “the problem of pain.” I think we can see a glimpse of the answer in the purpose of beauty.

I suggest that humans appreciate and desire beauty because God created us in His image.
God creates beauty in the world around us to give us a sample of what is possible. When we see beauty, we long for more because we always find imperfections in the beauty we see here. Beautiful peacocks die. Colorful fall leaves turn brown and fall to the ground. The beauty of a sunset is fleeting. We long for more. We want to know what more God has in store for us.

The apostle John saw a vision of what God has waiting for those who accept His gift of eternal life. In Revelation chapters 21 and 22, he struggled to describe it in terms of the familiar, such as gold, pearls, and jewels, but he knew those words were inadequate. Perhaps the purpose of beauty in the world around us is to show us a glimpse of the glory of God’s beauty. We long for the revelation of the pure beauty of God’s kingdom. As we struggle to answer the problem of pain, perhaps the answer is before our eyes. The problem of beauty is only a hint, a clue, a sample of the ultimate beauty. I can’t wait to see the real thing.

April 7, 2022April 4, 2022

Designed with Purpose and Beauty

Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, and Ernst Haeckel published drawings of embryos in his book The Natural History of Creation in 1868. Haeckel intended his somewhat inaccurate drawings to support Darwin’s theory by showing that embryo development reflects evolutionary development. As we said in yesterday’s post, those who reject the idea of a creator God try to explain what appears to be designed with purpose and beauty by saying it has no purpose and no designer. Beauty in living things can be a problem, or it can be a blessing, depending on whether you accept or reject the Designer of life.

Physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg is an atheist who rejects belief in God because of the problem of pain, which we can summarize as: “Why would an all-powerful and loving God allow pain and suffering?” Weinberg explains his view in his book Dreams of a Final Theory. However, he can’t explain the problem of why living things appear to be designed with purpose and beauty. He made the understatement of the century when he wrote, “I have to admit that sometimes nature seems more beautiful than strictly necessary.”

Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins, writing in his book Climbing Mount Improbable, told about a time when he was driving through the countryside with his six-year-old daughter. The girl was excited about seeing “pretty” wildflowers. Dawkins asked his daughter what she thought was the purpose of wildflowers. She replied, “To make the world pretty, and to help the bees make honey for us.” Dawkins said he was sorry that he “had to tell her that it wasn’t true.” According to Dawkins, biology is the study of things that appear to be designed for a purpose, but his atheism forces him to argue that there is no purpose.

The living world around us shows many examples of the problem of beauty. Various species sing songs and perform dances that go beyond what survival would require. Gibbons sing duets, and birds of paradise display their beauty with song and dance. Bower birds go to excess extremes to create works of art. The peacock’s beautiful tail is extravagant from a survival perspective. These animal attributes seem inefficient and not a method to adapt to the environment. They certainly go beyond survival of the fittest to what David Rothenberg, a philosopher at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, calls “survival of the beautiful.”

Is it possible that the excessive beauty of living things is merely an accident, or is life designed with purpose and beauty? What is beauty, and why do we care? We will conclude this discussion tomorrow.

April 6, 2022April 4, 2022

Beauty in Nature

For the past two days, we have talked about beauty in nature and how it often seems to defy the evolutionary principle of survival of the fittest. Darwinists refer to “emergent order” as the process of living things coming into being without any design or intelligent guidance. Instead, they say it was accomplished by a set of simple rules laid out originally by Charles Darwin and refined into what is now known as Neo-Darwinism.

In his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, Darwin presented his principle of natural selection. However, he realized that natural selection acting on random mutations couldn’t explain the “selection” method used in all cases. Moreover, he was troubled by the excess beauty in nature. He saw unnecessary frills and flourish, which he could not explain by natural selection. A year after that book was published, his frustration caused him to write, “The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it makes me sick.”

To cover those cases where natural selection can’t explain the beauty in nature, he introduced “sexual selection” in his 1871 book The Descent of Man, and Selection Related to Sex. Sexual selection involves the beauty often seen in male birds in general and peacocks in particular. According to Darwin’s sexual selection theory, the reason for the beauty of the peacock’s tail is that the peahens prefer such gaudy but impractical decorations. The same principle applies to many other species, such as bower birds or birds of paradise, where the males display striking colors or impressive actions to attract a mate.

German zoologist and eugenicist Ernst Haeckel was also an artist. He popularized Darwin through his artwork published in several books. His drawings depict the beauty he saw in even one-celled animals called Radiolaria, and he attributed the beauty to natural selection and mathematical principles. Haeckel was so enamored by Darwin’s hypothesis that he went out of his way to promote it in books of drawings.

Haeckel’s drawings sometimes showed his bias for Darwinism. For example, in The Natural History of Creation (published in German in 1868 and later in English), he displayed drawings that compared human embryos with embryos of various animals, suggesting that the development of those embryos repeats the path of evolution. However, he manipulated his illustrations to prove his point. Other scientists later pointed out the flaws, and his dishonesty discredited his scientific credentials.

However, the books of Haeckel’s drawings were best sellers in their day, and they are still selling even today. Nevertheless, those drawings did not prove design without a designer. We have called the question of how excessive beauty in nature could have evolved by natural selection “the problem of beauty.” Yesterday, we said that we prefer to call it the blessing of beauty—a blessing from God. However, atheists do not see it as a gift from the Creator, and they try to explain it away as accidental. They suggest that what appears to be designed for a purpose has no purpose and no designer. We will look at that tomorrow.