Animals Archives

February 8, 2022February 7, 2022

Color Vision Differences in Various Creatures

Color vision differences in various creatures result from eye design. Humans see color because we have three kinds of cones in the retina that respond to different energies of light. Our eyes have color cones sensitive to red, green, and blue. If light stimulates all three types of cones, we see it as white. When light stimulates red and green cones but not blue, we see yellow. Other combinations result in every color we can see.

Some light energies do not trigger any of our cones, yet they affect us. For example, our eyes don’t perceive ultraviolet energy, but UV rays can cause sunburn. Likewise, we can’t see infrared energy, but we can feel it as heat.

Animals have many color vision differences compared to humans. Why do deer not see the orange jackets that hunters frequently wear? A deer can’t see very much color at all. That means a hunter standing still in the woods wearing an orange camouflage outfit will be invisible to a deer but highly visible to other hunters.

Some animals that do not see color can see light energies that we can’t. For example, a rattlesnake can see infrared, which is a lower energy than the visible light we see. A warm-blooded animal such as a rat or mouse gives off infrared radiation. A rattlesnake can see the infrared light coming from the rat on a very dark night when there is no light visible to humans.

The National Science Foundation reported on a jumping spider (Saitis barbipes) found in Europe and North Africa with no red color sensitivity. A red ball would appear gray or black to those spiders. However, the males of these furry spiders have a bright red crown and legs. Even though potential mates cannot see the red, certain areas of the spider’s body strongly absorb ultraviolet light. Those areas appear as “spider green” to other jumping spiders.

In addition to color vision differences, some animals have specialized vision tools to help them survive. For example, a marine turtle’s eyes have polarized corneas. That polarization allows the turtle to see reflected light because it is polarized parallel to the reflecting surface. A turtle needing to locate water will simply scan the horizon to see polarized light reflected from the water’s surface. Other animals, such as birds or fish, have polaroids in a vertical orientation, enabling them to see through clouds or water without having to deal with glare.

Designing cells that can detect light is only part of the story. Making eyes that meet the peculiar needs of various animals is much more difficult. Your vision is just one more support for David’s statement, “I will praise you, Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalms 139:14.)

Reference: The National Science Foundation and the journal The Science of Nature

February 4, 2022February 2, 2022

An Overlooked Role of Birds and Mammals

Various data sources show massive evidence of climate change. The melting of the ice sheets, the warming of the Pacific Ocean, and the increase of weather anomalies affect all of us. Some of these changes have to do with flooding and the frequency of storms. Others affect our food supply where there is an overlooked role of birds and mammals.

While the effect on human activity is pretty dramatic, the natural changes in living things in the environment are usually less noticeable. The reason is that the design of life anticipates that climate will change from time to time, even if humans have no role in that change. If a plant species faces environmental change threatening its existence, it will disperse its seeds into a different place where the environment is more suitable.

The often overlooked role of birds and mammals is that they are the primary agents for seed dispersal. The National Science Foundation helped fund a study showing that more than half of all plant species rely on animals to disperse their seeds. The NSF website said, “Plants that rely on seed dispersers can face extinction if there are too few animals to move their seeds far enough to keep pace with changing conditions.”

One of the things that plant-eating dinosaurs did was to spread the seeds of the plants they ate. This means that pruning was not the only benefit of plant-eaters, but seed spreading was also significant. As the climate has changed in the past, animals have spread the seeds over a vast geographic area allowing the incredible diversity we see in plants today.

This kind of research has a variety of practical uses. It reminds us of the overlooked role of birds and mammals in dispersing seeds in the environment. The study showed a 60% reduction due to the loss of seed-spreading birds and mammals.

We see evidence of God’s wisdom in designing birds and mammals with a diet that allows spreading the seeds of the plants they eat. That design helps to moderate the effect of climate change. God told Adam and Eve to take care of the Garden (Genesis 2:15), and we need to understand our responsibility in that. The fact that creation’s design allows life to survive climate changes is a testimony to God’s wisdom.

Reference: National Science Foundation website and the journal Science

February 2, 2022February 1, 2022

Studies of Elephant Trunks

So many designs in living things seem to be beyond any chance explanation that it is difficult to watch a nature program or read a scientific paper without seeing another example. For example, we have recently written about studies of elephant trunks HERE, HERE, and HERE. National Wildlife magazine for the first quarter of 2022 reported on another elephant trunk study.

This report centers on the elephant’s specialized respiratory system, which produces lung pressure that allows the elephant to use suction both on land and underwater. No other terrestrial species can even come close to doing what an elephant can do.

Every day an African elephant consumes 400 pounds of food and drinks several gallons of water. The engineers studying the elephants discovered that they can dilate their nostrils to reduce the thickness of the walls of their trunks, increasing the space inside the trunk by 60%. High-speed video and computer modeling show that the elephants can suction air at nearly 500 feet per second and inhale a gallon of water every 1.5 seconds.

As with previous studies of elephant trunks, this new data makes the elephant even more amazing. As scientists understand specialized equipment, it becomes more and more difficult to suggest that this specialization can be the product of chance. Many species of elephants have inhabited our planet, and their trunks all show specialization, even though the environments they live in vary enormously.

Every living thing on Earth has something to teach us. Therefore, we must take care of our planet and the animals we share it with so we will not lose this information. From studies of ants to studies of elephant trunks, an abundance of life demonstrates the wisdom and design of the Creator.

References: National Wildlife magazine and Journal of the Royal Society Interface

February 1, 2022January 31, 2022

Vulture Bees and Evolution

One of the interesting design features that we see in the biological world is how waste material is recycled into the environment. When something dies, all of its body must return to the bio-system. Otherwise, the bodies of dead animals and plants would cover Earth’s surface. Vultures and hyenas play an essential role in recycling dead bodies. In past columns, we have written about birds that eat bones. Vulture bees are another agent that takes a dead carcass and reduces it to the elemental constituents.

We are all familiar with bees that flit from flower to flower, searching for nectar. Vulture or carrion bees are three species of stingless bees in the genus Trigona, living in the jungles of Central and South America. To prevent them from getting sick on rotting meat, they have the same gut bacteria as vultures and hyenas.

The jungle poses a different environment from open terrain. A dead animal carcass can quickly turn slimy and stinky in the warm and humid jungle environment. However, vulture bees have a digestive system that can handle any dead animal, even lizards and snakes.

Studies of the vulture bees show that they have one-third more acid-producing gut bacteria and some microbes not found in other bees. Vulture bees regurgitate some of the meat they eat into their nests, where it serves as food for young bees, and their gut bacteria prevent further decay of the meat to protect the colony.

Researchers trying to give an evolutionary explanation to the existence of these bees face a problem. According to Science News, entomologist Jessica Maccaro of the University of California expressed it well: “It’s hard to know which evolved first – the gut bacteria or the bees’ ability to eat meat. But bees probably first turned to meat because there was so much competition for nectar for food.”

It is hard to imagine a bee choosing to eat meat to reduce competition for food. It seems more plausible that vulture bees are part of God’s designed system to recycle nutrients from dead material to protect the environment.

Reference: Science News January 29, 2022, page 4 and the American Society for Microbiology

January 26, 2022January 29, 2022

Food Sources God Has Given Us

One of the significant challenges today is controlling the collateral damage from growing enough food for our world’s population. This issue is especially true with livestock which create a large carbon footprint and require two-thirds of land devoted to agriculture in the United States. That includes the land dedicated to raising feed for the livestock, which requires massive amounts of water and creates water contamination by polluted runoff and soil erosion. We need to make better use of the food sources God has given us.

A National Science Foundation research program in Yellowstone National Park led to the discovery of a fungus named Fusarium flavolapis, which has amazing abilities. It can ferment sugar to produce a protein that mimics the taste and texture of meat and dairy products. A company called Nature’s Fynd is already making meatless breakfast patties and dairy-free cream cheese and marketing it in California, New York City, and Chicago. They grow this product in trays without soil or sunlight using just sugar, water, and nutrients.

Another food of the future is mycelium, which is the root structure of mushrooms. It grows incredibly fast and has fibers that mimic chicken or steak. A startup company called Meati Foods is now growing enough mycelium in a small facility to equal the meat of a cow in about four days. They are building a much larger plant in Colorado, with expected production to start there in 2022.

Imagine a future where we can grow food in controlled conditions inside a building and where there is no need for massive amounts of water or large areas of land. Also, pesticides or herbicides would not be needed. As a result, hunger could be eliminated from planet Earth, and there would be no shortage of water or release of greenhouse gases.

These products are not a fantasy but another case where humans are finally using food sources God has given us. Fusarium flavolapis grows in hot water springs in the natural world. Growing mushrooms produce mycelium. The big issue is getting people to accept these products in their diet, replacing the ones they have been accustomed to.

Reference: National Science Foundation website

January 22, 2022January 21, 2022

Tiny Frogs and Large Tarantulas

Researchers constantly find things in the natural world that show special arrangements, allowing life to exist. For example, tiny frogs called dotted humming frogs (Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata) share a home with large tarantulas in a mutualistic relationship.

Large tarantulas eat frogs, but these tiny frogs have toxins in their skin that make them unpalatable to the tarantulas. Scientists studying this arrangement have seen young spiders pick up a dotted humming frog, taste it, and then quickly put it back down. However, these frogs have a symbiotic relationship with large tarantulas known as Columbian lesserblacks (Xenesthis immanis). The tarantulas share their burrows with the frogs. As a result, the spider protects the frog and its eggs from predators, while the frog protects the spider’s eggs from ants and other insects by eating them.

As biologists study the natural world, they find many cases where an animal lives in a symbiotic relationship with another animal or plant. For example, having a burrow to shield from exposure to the Sun and large tarantulas as bodyguards for protection from predators is an ideal situation for the tiny frogs and an example of the wisdom and design built into the natural world.

Life that endures requires thinking and planning, and everywhere we look, we see wisdom at work, allowing our planet to teem with living things. Proverbs 8 finds Wisdom challenging us to understand: “Does not wisdom cry out and understanding put forth her voice? … Unto you O men I call… Oh, you simple ones, understand wisdom, and you foolish ones have an understanding heart…” We can learn from the animals as we find ways to protect our food supply rather than saturating our world with toxic chemicals.

— John N. Clayton 2022

References: Popular Science Newsletter (January 19, 2022) and Wikipedia

January 21, 2022January 20, 2022

Hudsonian Godwit Migrations

One of the great mysteries of the natural world is the way various shorebirds make their incredible migrations. One of the most studied shorebirds gets part of its name from Canada’s Hudson Bay, where it was first identified. The second part of its name comes from its two-syllable cry of “god-wiiit.” The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is a bird with remarkable migrations.

Hudsonian godwits lay their eggs in Alaska and northern Canada in the spring. Then, in June or July, they leave their hatchlings to fly 4000 miles to the northern Amazon. After that, they make another 2000 mile flight to Chiloé Island off the coast of Chile. Then, the following spring, they fly 6000 miles from Chile to the northern areas where they lay their eggs and repeat the cycle.

A mystery is how the young Hudsonian godwits make their journey without adult instruction about where to go. Since these birds live ten to twelve years, they will make the journey as many as 24 times. Hudsonian godwits weigh less than an ounce when they hatch, but in a couple of hours, they are running around catching mosquitoes and flies. Then, before starting their journey south, they bulk themselves up to more than 12 times their original weight.

Another mystery about the birds is their anatomical preparation for the flights. A typical Hudsonian godwit will have blood sugar concentrations that would be in the diabetic range for humans. Before their migration, the birds’ pectoral muscles double or triple in size, as do their hearts and lungs. To balance this increase, their gizzards, livers, and kidneys shrink. When they arrive at their destination, all of their organs readjust to the normal range.

As the birds fly their long journeys, one side of their brain will sleep while the other side stays awake and alert, and later the sides will switch. It is called uni-hemispheric slow-wave sleep, and it allows them to fly day and night. In addition, their respiratory systems are highly efficient, allowing flight at high altitudes with less oxygen. That is essential since they fly over the Andes Mountains.

Also mysterious is the ability of Hudsonian godwits to navigate their journey. Researchers say the birds know and understand weather systems, including wind and rain. They navigate with their vision using stars and landforms, and even smells seem to guide them. But that still does not explain it all. They also sense Earth’s magnetism, but scientists are not sure how. One hypothesis is that their vision is linked to Earth’s magnetic lines of force by “quantum entanglement,” a phenomenon Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

The journey of Hudsonian godwits allows them to secure food at random locations, and their diet of mosquitoes, insects, and worms benefits the environment as much as the birds. The design of Hudsonian godwits speaks of wisdom, planning, and highly sophisticated applications of physics. It would seem that understanding these birds should inspire wonder in a thinking person about the source of such abilities. Truly “we can know there is a God through the things He has made (Romans 1:20.)

Reference: “The Wonder Bird” in Smithsonian magazine January/February 2022.

January 20, 2022January 19, 2022

Biological Pest Control and Valencia Oranges

There are huge concerns about the use of chemicals in controlling agricultural pests that destroy crops. Nearly every crop you can think of has a worm, fungus, or bug that eats it and can wipe out a significant food source for humans. Since World War II, this problem is usually addressed by using chemicals to kill the offending pest. The problem is the collateral damage of agricultural chemicals, and the solution is biological pest control which actually predates industrial pesticides.

We know now that many of these chemicals cause cancer in human beings. We have also seen the terrible effects of chemicals on wildlife. In past years, the use of DDT on various crops resulted in the death of massive numbers of birds. Fish populations in fresh and seawater have been decimated by runoff from fields sprayed with pesticides. The real tragedy is that the use of chemicals is almost unnecessary. God has provided solutions to the problem of agricultural pests, but humans refuse or neglect to use those solutions.

More than a century ago, the first instance of modern biological pest control was the decimation of citrus groves by a bug named Icerya. The Icerya probably came to America from their native Australia by hitchhiking with careless travelers. In California, some 600,000 orange trees produced Valencia oranges in 1890 until Iceryas invaded and decimated them, reducing orange production by 80%.

Growers tried every method they could think of, including spraying the remaining trees with chemicals, setting off explosions, and burning infected trees. Finally, entomologists went to Australia and discovered a ladybug known as Novius that eats Icerya. When growers released the ladybugs in the California citrus groves, they wiped out the Icerya and rescued the American orange crop.

Citrus growers still depend on Novius ladybugs and pay up to a dollar per ladybug when they have Icerya infestations in their trees. God’s natural biological pest control works with no cancer risk and minimum cost. Unfortunately, human impatience with God’s answers has caused cancer, pollution, and enormous environmental damage.

Reference: Smithsonian magazine January/February 2022 pages 22 – 25.

January 12, 2022January 11, 2022

California Condor Parthenogenesis

In the 1980s, there was great concern about the shrinking population of California condors. In 1987, they became extinct in the wild, and only 22 were left in captivity. Due to a captive breeding program, at last count, there were 518 living California Condors in 2019. Most of them were in the wild in California, Arizona, and Utah. Recently, scientists discovered two cases of California condor parthenogenesis, or as news reports called it, “virgin birth.”

Researchers from the San Diego Wildlife Alliance discovered two male condors who had not been produced by sexual reproduction, even though their mothers had previously produced offspring in the usual way. The scientists could determine that because they have a record of the genetic data for the more than 900 condors hatched since the captive breeding program began in the 1980s. Both birds contained identical copies of their mother’s DNA, which cannot happen when a female’s egg has been fertilized by sperm.

Parthenogenesis occurs in some insects and other invertebrates and a few fish, amphibian, and reptile species. It even happens in some captive birds, but it is unknown in wild birds. I have often kidded my biologist friends about their discipline, saying that the only universal rule in biology is that anything you say always has an exception. California condor parthenogenesis is one of those exceptions.

Reasons for preserving wildlife are to protect the environment and its impact on humans and learn from studying the design of living things. But, of course, another reason is to enjoy the beauty of the natural world. We can see God’s creative wisdom in the world all around us, and the more we know about the creation, the better we understand the Creator.

References: Living Bird magazine (Winter of 2022, page 13) and Journal of Heredity

January 7, 2022January 6, 2022

Animal Tool Use and What It Means

An interesting fact about animals is their ability to use tools. Years ago, people thought that only humans used tools, but recent studies have shown animal tool use. However, the word “tool” means different things to different people.

Webster defines a tool as “an instrument used to accomplish a given task.” By that definition, we can find examples of animal tool use. We have reported on some of them before. For example, HERE and HERE.

Science News reported that polar bears sometimes kill walrus by bashing them with chunks of stone or ice. People have observed birds cracking nuts by dropping them from high altitudes onto rocks. Elephants use tree trunks for a variety of purposes, and crows use sticks to pry off the lids of bottles. Chimpanzees use conchoidally fractured chert or flint to cut open a fruit. Those of us who have bird feeders have seen squirrels use a tree branch to access a feeder. Recently, researchers in Israel taught fish how to drive a “car.”

There is a difference between a tool and a machine. According to the dictionary, a machine is “an assembly of interconnected components arranged to transmit or modify force in order to perform useful work.” A broader question here is whether intelligence is needed to fashion a machine? If that is the case, intelligent animals should be making machines, and mentally challenged humans would not be able to do so.

This discussion of animal tool use gets into difficulties because the anatomical parts of all animals are simple machines. Limbs are levers, and teeth are wedges. The design of all animals includes the equipment to secure food and shelter. Building into animals the ability to use objects in their environment to survive is another example of God’s design in the natural world.

Studies indicate incredible wisdom and planning in the creation of animal life. However, what sets humans apart from all other animals is not tools, machines, or intelligence. Instead, our spiritual nature is what makes humans different.

The ability of humans to create art, express ourselves in music, conceive of self, worship, and be taught to think set humans apart. To have an agape type of love that is not sexual and does not promote survival makes us human. The mentally challenged among us possess these abilities because all of us are created in the image of God. Animal tool use is far removed from possessing God’s image.

Reference: Science News, July 29, 2021.