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THE FACT OF CREATION The Thread of the Spider The spider named Dinopis has a great skill for hunting. Rather than weaving a static web and waiting for its prey, it weaves a small yet highly unusual web that it throws on its prey. Afterwards, it tightly wraps up its prey with this web. The entrapped insect can do nothing to extricate itself. The web is so perfectly constructed that the insect gets even more entangled as it gets more alarmed. In order to store its food, the spider wraps the prey with extra strands, almost as if it were packaging it.
Very important miracles are hidden in the thread of the spiders. This thread, with a diameter of less than one thousandth of a millimetre, is 5 times stronger than a steel wire having the same thickness. This thread has yet another characteristic of being extremely light. A length of this thread long enough to encircle the world would weigh only 320 grams.189 Steel, a substance specially produced in industrial works, is one of the strongest materials manufactured by mankind. However, the spider can produce in its body a far firmer thread than steel. While man produces steel, he makes use of his centuries-old knowledge and technology; which knowledge or technology, then, does the spider use while producing its thread? As we see, all technological and technical means at the disposal mankind lag behind those of a spider.
Hibernating animals can go on living although their body temperature falls to the same degree as the cold temperature outside. How do they manage this? Mammals are warm-blooded. This means that under normal conditions, their body temperature always remains constant because the natural thermostat in their body keeps on regulating this temperature. However, during hibernation, the normal body heat of small mammals, like the squirrel rat with a normal body heat of 40 degrees, drops down to a little bit above the freezing point as if adjusted by some kind of a key. The body metabolism slows down to a great extent. The animal starts breathing very slowly and its normal heartbeat, which is 300 times a minute, falls to 7-10 beats a minute. Its normal body reflexes stop and the electrical activities in its brain slow down almost to undetectability. One of the dangers of motionlessness is the freezing of tissues in very cold weather and their being destroyed by ice crystals. Hibernating animals however are protected against this danger thanks to the special features they are endowed with. The body fluids of hibernating animals are retained by chemical materials having high molecular masses. Thus, their freezing point is decreased and they are protected from harm.190
Certain species of some fish types such as electric eel and electric ray utilise the electricity produced in their bodies either to protect themselves from their enemies or to paralyse their prey. In every living being - including man - is a little amount of electricity. Man, however, cannot direct this electricity or take it under control to use it for his own benefit. The above-mentioned creatures, on the other hand, have an electrical current as high as 500-600 volts in their bodies and they are able use this against their enemies. Furthermore, they are not adversely affected by this electricity. The energy they consume to defend themselves is recovered after a certain time like the charging of a battery and electrical power is once again ready for use. Fish do not use the high-voltage electricity in their small bodies only for defence purposes. Besides providing the means for finding their way in deep dark waters, electricity also helps them sense objects without seeing them. Fish can send signals by using the electricity in their bodies. These electric signals reflect back after hitting solid objects and these reflections give the fish information about the object. This way, fish can determine the distance and size of the object.191
One of the features that animals possess in order to keep living is the art of hiding themselves-that is, "camouflage". Animals feel the necessity of hiding themselves for two main reasons: for hunting and for protecting themselves from predators. Camouflage differs from all other methods with its particular involvement of utmost intelligence, skill, aesthetics and harmony. The camouflage techniques of animals are truly amazing. It is almost impossible to identify an insect that is hidden in a tree trunk or another creature hidden under a leaf. Leaf louse that suck the juices of plants feed themselves on plant stalks by pretending to be thorns. By this method, they aim to trick birds, their biggest enemies, and ensure that birds will not perch on these plants.
Under the skin of the cuttlefish is arrayed a dense layer of elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores. They come mainly in yellow, red, black and brown. At a signal, the cells expand and flood the skin with the appropriate shade. That is how the cuttlefish takes on the colour of the rock it stands on and makes a perfect camouflage. This system operates so effectively that the cuttlefish can also create a complex zebra-like striping.192
For many sea-dwelling animals, seeing is extremely important for hunting and defence. Accordingly, most of the sea-dwelling animals are equipped with eyes perfectly created for underwater. Under water, the ability to see becomes more and more limited with depth, especially after 30 meters. Organisms living at this depth, however, have eyes created according to the given conditions. Sea-dwelling animals, unlike land-dwelling animals, have spherical lenses in perfect accordance with the needs of the density of the water they inhabit. Compared to the wide elliptical eyes of land-dwelling animals, this spherical structure is more serviceable for sight under water; it is adjusted to see objects in close-up. When an object at a greater distance is focused upon, the whole lens system is pulled backwards by the help of a special muscle mechanism within the eye. One other reason why the eyes of the fish are spherical is the refraction of light in water. Because the eye is filled with a liquid having almost the same density as water, no refraction occurs while an image formed outside is reflected on the eye. Consequently, the eye lens fully focuses the image of the outside object on the retina. The fish, unlike human beings, sees very sharply in water. Some animals like octopus have rather big eyes to compensate for the poor light in the depths of water. Below 300 meters, big-eyed fish need to capture the flashes of the surrounding organisms to notice them. They have to be especially sensitive to the feeble blue light penetrating into the water. For this reason, there are plenty of sensitive blue cells in the retina of their eyes. As is understood from these examples, every living being has distinctive eyes specially designed to meet its particular needs. This fact proves that they are all created just the way they have to be by a Creator Who has eternal wisdom, knowledge and power.
189"The
Structure and Properties of Spider Silk", Endeavour, January 1986,
vol. 10, pp.37-43 |
How
does this spider make a web so excellent in its mechanical design
and chemical structure? It is impossible for the spider to have
acquired such a skill by coincidence as is claimed by evolutionists.
The spider is devoid of faculties such as learning and memorising
and does not have even a brain to perform these things. Obviously,
this skill is bestowed on the spider by its creator, God, Who is
Exalted in Power.
