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![]() The mantis is one of those insects that are created in harmony with their habitat. They conceal themselves sometimes on leaves, and sometimes on branches. The only weapon they have is the shape and colour of their bodies. In this way, they hide from their enemies. |
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Changing colours according to habitat is realised through very complex mechanisms in the animals' bodies. These mechanisms, which can be said to resemble the tanning of human skin under the sun, cause colour changes in the coat and fur of the animals. Just as we cannot prevent our body from tanning or burning under the sun (except by utilising special methods of protection), the animals too have no control over the changes in their bodies. The important thing is that this feather change provides a great protection for the animal. Turning white on snowy winter days and ochre in other seasons, its feathers provide great camouflage for the animal. It could well have been the reverse; the animal could have been ochre in winter and pure white in summer, or it could never have changed colour. In short, there is an obvious wisdom and calculation in the alternation of the colours according to the seasons. The animal cannot estimate and control this. Certainly the One Who created the animal endowed it with such a protection. |
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THE PRIVILEGE OF
RED
![]() ![]() The protection of some animals depends on the discouraging effect of red. For instance, in a moment of danger, the tree grasshopper shows the red on its back to its enemy, while crabs disclose the red colour in their pincers. The interesting thing is that the red part in the animal’s body is located in such a place that it is normally not seen yet can easily be disclosed in a moment of danger. This helps it create an "effect which is "shocking" to the attacker. |
SEEMING MORE DREADFUL THAN THE ACTUAL In a moment of danger, the lizard in the picture swells itself and makes its body seem far greater than it really is. When it swells up, a mane emerging around its head makes it look even more terrifying. |
Another admirable and amazing method of defence is "false eyes". There are figures on the bodies of some animals that can be called "false eyes". The "false eyes" are so convincing that other animals that wish to hunt these animals cannot escape thinking that they face a much bigger animal. On the other hand, the animals possessing these "false eyes" enjoy the comfort of this trait of which they are not even aware.
When
some butterflies open their wings, we encounter a pair of eyes,
with all their symmetry and detail. These eyes alone are more than
sufficient to convince their enemies that what they face is not
a butterfly. Particularly, the false faces of some butterfly species
such as the Shonling butterfly, seen below, are so perfect with
their shiny eyes, facial features, frowning eyebrows, mouth and
nose that the overall picture is quite discouraging to most of its
enemies.
It
is impossible to claim that this extraordinary picture emerged as
the result of "an interesting coincidence". When the below picture
is examined in detail, we understand that these facial features
cannot have been formed by chance. Can coincidence make symmetry?
Can coincidence form the same colours and designs in two different
places? Certainly not. This claim is quite meaningless and unscientific.
Could the butterfly possibly make this system on its own, thinking that it would be useful? The answer to that question is certainly "no".
It is out of the question that a
caterpillar with a life span of a few weeks could play on its own
colours, designs, and make a drawing surpassing even that of artists,
and use this for defence purposes.
Like all other living things, Allah also created these beings with
"false eyes". The owner of their flawless design is certainly Allah,
the Sustainer of all the Worlds.
![]() False
organs work not only for frightening but also for escape.
The tail part of the moth in the below picture has the look
of a head with antennae. This shape causes attackers to head
towards the tail of the moth, taking it for the head. The
moth also misleads the attacker by turning its back. This
target-confusing operation helps the moth gain time to escape.
The same "false head" look is also seen in the butterfly above. |
![]() This
green caterpillar can protect itself from its enemy thanks
to the false eyes on its tail. (left)The thornback ray fish swims into its nest and leaves its tail outside. On the tail is a pair of "eyes". Other fish around it do not dare to approach it as the false eyes in the tail make them think that it is awake. |
AMAZING ARCHITECTS
In the previous pages, we reviewed the wondrous features of the honeybee. We saw how the bee colony constructs the great architectural wonder of the hive, the intricate and subtle plans they employ while constructing it, and the jobs they automatically perform, which are quite hard even for men.
As mentioned previously, bees are able to do this extraordinarily hard work not because they are cleverer than men, but because they are "inspired" so. Otherwise, it would not be possible for thousands of unconscious animals to accomplish such a hard and complicated operation, which needs control and supervision from one centre.
However, bees are not the only excellent architects in nature. In the following pages, we will look at other animals, which very skilfully overcome very complicated and difficult "construction" works, as difficult as that of the bees. These animals, just like the bees, use the knowledge "inspired" in them and construct architectural wonders by the help of some interesting qualities given to them at their creation.
Beavers are the first among the
excellent architects in nature that come to mind. These animals
build their lodges in stationary ponds, but these ponds are special
in being artificially formed by dams beavers build over the stream.
Beavers
set about building a dam in order to block the stream and form a
stationary pond in which they can build a lodge for themselves.
For this purpose, they first push thick branches down into the stream-bed.
Then they heap up relatively thinner ones over those heavier ones.
They are yet faced with the problem that the running water might
take this mass of branches away. Unless the dam is clamped tight
to the streambed, the running water would soon damage the dam. The
best thing to do to prevent the dam from being ruined by the water
is to drive stakes into the streambed and to build the dam on these
stakes. For this reason, beavers use large stakes as main buttresses
when they build their dam. They, however, do not bother to drive
these stakes into the streambed, but fix these stakes in the water
by weighing them down with stones. Lastly, they fasten the branches
they have piled up with a special mortar they make from clay and
dead leaves. This mortar is water-resistant and is very firm against
the corrosive effect of water.
The dam built by beavers blocks the water at an angle of exactly 45°. This means that the animal does not build its dam by throwing branches in the water at random, but in a carefully planned manner. What deserves attention here is that all modern hydro-electrical power stations are built at the same angle today. In addition, beavers do not make the mistake of completely blocking the water. They build the dam in such a way that it keeps the water at the desired level and leaves special canals for excess water to run through.
The
beaver is full of special design characteristics for the construction
work it performs.
The most important tools of the animal are its teeth. It constructs dams with branches that it has nibbled and cut down. Naturally, its teeth frequently wear away, erode and break. Had it not been especially equipped with a special system for this work, it would shortly lose its teeth and die from starvation.
However, as we have mentioned, the problem of the animal has been settled from the very start. Its four front teeth, which it uses for nibbling trees, continue to grow throughout its life.
How have the teeth gained such a feature? Did the beaver decide to grow them after seeing its teeth break? Did the teeth of the beaver that constructed the first dam suddenly begin to grow? Apparently, the animal has been created possessing such a feature. That this is a special creation can be sensed from the fact that the size of the back teeth stays constant. If all the teeth of the animal had kept growing, the back teeth that are not worn away would grow excessively, force the jaw of the animal and make its mouth unusable. However, only the four teeth at the front grow, i.e., the ones it uses for nibbling trees.
In
addition to its teeth, many other organs of the beaver are especially
created in compliance with the work it does. It has transparent
curtains that prevent the eye from being damaged while working under
water, special valves to prevent water from entering its nose and
ears, broad back feet enabling it to move like a fish under water,
and a flat, wide and hard tail. These are some distinctive features
the animal possesses from its creation.
The construction material of the nest is a hard resistant mortar which workers make by blending their saliva with soil. The most extraordinary aspect of the construction art of termites is that they provide continuous air to the colony and keep the heat and moisture amazingly constant. The hard and thick walls of the towers they make from soil seclude the inner part of the nest from the heat outside. For air circulation, they make special corridors along the inner walls of the nest. On the other hand, pores continuously filter the air.
For the oxygen needed by the inhabitants of a middle-sized nest, 1,500 litres of air are required every day. If this air were taken directly into the nest, the temperature of the nest would rise to a level that would be extremely risky for termites. However, they have taken precautions against this as if they knew what would later befall them.
They make damp cellars under the nest as a protection against excessive heat. Species living in the Sahara dig an irrigation canal 40 m underground and provide that water reaches the nest by evaporation. The thick walls of the tower help maintain interior humidity.
Temperature control, just like humidity control, is done in a very sensible and sensitive manner. The air outside passes through thin corridors lying on the surface of the nest, enters moist cellars and reaches a hall at the top of the nest; there, air warms by contacting the bodies of insects and rises. Thus, an air circulation system, which is continuously inspected by colony workers, is provided by way of simple physical principles.
Outside the nest, a roof - which
is sloped as a protection against floods - and gutters strike the
eye.
How do these living beings, with brains smaller than a cubic millimetre
and devoid of the sense of sight, accomplish such a complex construction?
![]() ![]() Being no taller than a few centimetres, termites can erect towers many meters high without using any tools. This admirable nest perfectly protects the inhabitant termite colony with a population of over a million from their enemies and unfavourable external life conditions. |
The
work of termites certainly is the outcome of collective work among
those creatures. Saying that "the insects dig independent tunnels
and these happen to be in accord with each other" would be sheer
nonsense. At this point, however, we face a question: how do these
animals work in harmony while performing this complex job? We all
know that when such a construction is made by men, beforehand the
construction is drawn by an architect, then the plans are distributed
to the workers, and all the construction is organised in a work
site. How could termites, which have no such communication among
them, and which are, after all, blind, manage to make this giant
construction in harmony?
An experiment on the issue helps us find the answer to this question.
In the experiment, as a first step, a termite nest that was already in construction was split into two. Throughout the construction, the two termite groups were prevented from contacting one another. The result was surprising. What finally came to sight were not two separate nests, but two pieces of one nest. When the pieces were brought together, it was observed that all the corridors and canals fitted one another.
How can this be explained? First, it is obvious that not all the termites possess the necessary information on the construction of the termite nest as a whole. A termite can have knowledge only of one part of the process in which it is involved. We then may conclude that the place where all information is stored is the termite community as a whole. Therefore, here we may talk about a greater knowledge. Such knowledge can only be said to exist at the level of a community of individuals of the same species. This is not the only example. For instance, when flying as a mass, grasshoppers usually fly towards a specific direction. If we take one grasshopper out of this group and put it in a box, it immediately loses its orientation, and panic-stricken, tries to fly in all directions. If we put the box among the flying mass, the grasshopper finds the right direction and begins to fly in a single direction, the direction in which the whole mass flies!
Briefly, the information pertaining
to the collective organisation and works of individual organisms
is revealed only at the communal level. It does not exist individually.
In other words, animals that make collective "constructions" such
as the bee and the termite are not aware of what they do as individuals.
Beyond them all, another wisdom controls them all and creates the
perfect outcome, by bringing the work of all together.
AQRICULTURE
IN THE TOWERSome termites cultivate mushrooms in the gardens they make in their towers. These mushrooms, however, diffuse heat, by the nature of their life activities, which disturb the temperature balance kept by termites. The termites have to balance this extreme temperature rise. Termites use interesting methods to get rid of the heat they themselves release and from the metabolism of the mushrooms they grow in their garden. The generated heat rises up the main tower (chimney) of the nest. The air circulates and passes to auxiliary chimneys by going through small channels near the walls. Here, oxygen is taken in and the carbon dioxide that is released by the termites and the fungi is given out. Thus, the termite nest works like a huge lung for the whole colony. The air cools as it moves along the capillary channel system. Consequently, permanently cool and oxygen-rich air flows in at a speed of 12 cm per minute and thus the temperature inside stays constantly at 30oC. |
We have examined in earlier pages that in the Qur’an, Allah states
that production of honey is "inspired" in the bees. This is also
true for the work of the termites and other animals.
Definitely, these excellent processes were "taught" to animals and they are programmed to perform this work. Men can manage to make the incredible buildings they construct only after taking years long architectural educations and by using many technical tools. It is evident that these animals that do not possess wisdom and consciousness like men do, were created specifically to do this job and thus to be a means of showing the infinite knowledge and might of their Creator.
The one who is worthy of praise
and admiration for the great architectural wonders they construct
is surely not these little creatures, but Allah Who created them
with this talent.
WEAVER
ANTS Weaver ants live in the rainforests of Africa. In contrast to other ants that build their nests under the earth, these ants build their nests from leaves on the tops of trees. Constructed in the face of external attacks, the nest is sometimes so big as to extend over three trees. The nest is prepared to meet all kinds of situations. It has many departments: from private children rooms to watchtowers. |
![]() Firstly,
ants disperse over the tree on which they plan to settle (see
left). After determining the location where they will build
a nest, they immediately set to work. They fold the leaves
they will use from the sides. In order to bring the leaves
together, they make suspension bridges by clamping them together
(see right). The ant at the head of the chain holds the leaf
at its tip and passes it to the second ant clamping on it.
This transfer process goes on until the leaf tip reaches the
last ant and the two leaves lap over one another. |
CAN
A LARVA MAKE A SEWING MACHINE?While a few ants hold the tips of leaves with their feet and mouths, the others bring half-developed larvae from the brooding nest. The larvae, with their saliva, function as a shuttle. When the adult ants suppress the larvae on the leave tips, the secretory glands of the larvae, which produce thread, start to work. The ants bring the larvae back and forth like needles until the leaves are attached to each other tightly. (see left) |
Constructed
in the face of external attacks, the nest is sometimes so
big as to extend over three trees. The nest is prepared to
meet all kinds of situations. It has many departments: from
private children rooms to watchtowers. |
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(Surat an-Nisa: 126) |
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| This site is based on the works of Harun Yahya. | © 2004 Harun Yahya International. http://www.harunyahya.com |