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Nature is astonishing. There are some people that believe that everything in nature occurs by happenstance. If we stop to take a closer look at nature, we will realize that God's creation is incredibly perfect. When comparing the life and survival of the smallest of creatures to the largest of mammals on earth, we can easily see that none of God's creations were the result of happenstance.
Consider the following: the common housefly can fly at speeds of 4.5 miles per hour and can fly upside down; a shark, which has no swim bladder, is heavier than water and must constantly swim to maintain its position.
A shark will also grow a non-stop supply of new teeth. Some sharks will grow and shed 24,000 teeth in a ten-year period; a falcon can see a dragonfly one half mile away; a cheetah can go from zero to 40 mph in two seconds; and eels have a better sense of smell than a dog (dogs can smell 14 times better than humans and hear three times as well.)
Animals have amazing abilities.
For example, a polar bear can cover its black nose with a paw, which is white, making it more difficult to be spotted by prey. Some shrimp begin life as a male and later will become a female; fish worms have both sexes although they need to mate with each other.
Insects, such as wasps, live in a caste system, with only one fertile female, while the remainder of wasps are infertile females. As fall approaches, some males and fertile females are born. They mate, and the males die. Then, the mated females leave the hive and hibernate for the winter. In the following spring, the females start hives of their own.
The adult mayfly lives only one day. This entire day is spent in courtship and mating. The female praying mantis might kill and eat the male after he mates with her. A female bagworm cannot fly, therefore, it must attract the male to her bag so mating can occur.
The snowshoe hare has smaller ears than its close cousin, the jackrabbit. The large ears of the jackrabbit are used to detect danger and to reduce the hare's body heat. Although the snowshoe hare's ears are much smaller, they are also used for protection and to help in reducing body heat loss during the cold winters.
To compensate for this, the creator turns the hare white in the winter to help protect it from its enemies.
Fish worms and crabs can reproduce body parts that have been cut or pulled off. Grasshoppers have about 900 muscles, while humans have less than 700. Muskrats and beavers can stay underwater for 15 to 20 minutes.
Songbirds will lay eggs that are 7-10% of their body weight. A purple martin will consume up to 2,000 insects in a day's time. Hummingbirds can fly at 60 mph and will have a wing beat of 75 times a second when hovering in front of a flower. When the male hummingbird does his courtship flight his wing beats could reach 200 times per second.
The average oak tree has 700,000 leaves, and a giant beech tree could have well over a million. The common cattail head could contain close to two million seeds. The smelly skunk cabbage plant attracts beetles and flies, which allows cross pollination to occur. Opossums can live up to three years in the wild. They give birth to young so small that 24 of them would fit on a tablespoon.
The young, which are not fully developed when born, must make a long journey up into the female's pouch. While this trip is only three inches, it is a long way to go for the undeveloped young. Once inside the pouch, they must find a nipple to hang on. Since the young are so small, they do not have the capability to suckle, which means the mother must pump milk into their mouths.
A shrew will eat its own weight in insects in one day. The whirligig beetle is an excellent swimmer, with 84% of its energy applied to the water converted into thrust. Man's turbine wheel only achieves 55%. Glowworms and fireflies produce heatless light.
The females of most firefly species do not fly. All flashing is done to attract a mate. Each species of firefly has their own flashing signals. When a female is mated, she will sometimes copy the flash signal of another specie to attract a male. On arrival, he finds out that instead of mating, he might become a meal. The larvae of the firefly (glowworms) are keen hunters of snails and slugs.
When coming across a track of slime, the larva will follow it until finding its prey. larva will kill the slug or snail by biting and then injecting it with a poisonous secretion. If the snail goes into its shell, the larva could sit on the rim of the snail's shell for hours, waiting for the snail to reappear, and after it does, the attack is renewed.
Some trees, such as the willow tree, will reproduce from a branch that has fallen from the tree into a stream. The branch will float downstream and eventually become lodged against a bank. After this occurs, the branch will send down roots and presto, a new willow tree.
Earthworms hibernate in large bunches far below the frost line. Several hundred worms will form a ball, which helps to conserve body heat and retain body moisture. When slugs hibernate, they give off a slimy material, which spreads over their bodies. While underground this material will keep the slugs from drying up. Their close cousins (snails) seal their shells shut with a cement-like material. In the spring, the snail produces a substance that dissolves the cement, and the snail goes on its merry way.
Thousands of ladybird beetles (ladybugs) may cluster in one spot to hibernate. The morning cloak butterfly hibernates while the monarch butterfly migrates.
Yes, nature is truly amazing and to think God has trusted his creation to humans. He told us to use them, learn from them but most of all to take care of them. I hope we don't disappoint God.