Sunday, January 9, 2011

Seeing God in Amazing Creatures

The Woodcock: It is about the size of a pigeon, only a little fatter and has brown & white feathers that blend in with their surroundings. It has a long 3 inch bill to dig for worms. God gave them special sensors in their feet to detect worms burrowing underground. When they feel the vibrations they jab their bill into the soil and then they can use a special muscle God gave them to open the tip of their beak to catch the worm. If the worm stops moving they can use specially engineered ears just behind the beak to know when the worm starts to move again. To help protect the Woodcock while the beak is stuck in the soil God positioned their eyes far back on their heads so they can see for almost 360 degrees.


The Moose: Actually he was given the name "Musee" by the indians which meant (wood eater) because they observed them eating buds & twigs. They are found in Alaska and are the largest member of the deer family. They can weigh up to 1,800 lbs. and are 8 feet tall and 9 1/2 feet long. God gave them powerful leg muscles because their favorite food is the plants that grow at the bottom of the lake and they are very good divers and swimmers. They can stay down for many minutes and also like the advantage of insects not being able to get at them while in the water.
God only gave the Moose lower teeth and a tough upper lip which they use to tear the plants away. Only the male Moose have horns and he grows a new set every year that grows to 6 1/2 feet across. They start growing in April and fall on in December.
They live for about 20 years. Every September they mate but before the male bull moose fight to determine which of them is the strongest and the winner is the one who gets to mate and that makes stronger babies. God put this time table in effect so that in May during a 5 day period of time all the baby Moose are born so that both the male and female can protect the baby and it will have the entire summer to feed and grow big enough to survive the harsh winter. Three days after being born they can run and in only 2 weeks they have doubled their weight. God made the hairs of the Moose hollow to trap air that helps insulate against the cold and keep the Moose warm.

The German Water Spider: It looks like a normal brown spider about 1 inch long with 8 legs. Although they have no gills God gave them the ability to live under the water. They breathe holes in their abdomine and can carry a bubble of air held by 4 of their legs while they swim with the other 4 legs. With the bubble they can stay down about 10 minutes. In order for them to stay under the water longer they must build a home. God gave them the ability to spin a web that will stick to plants under water. When they have made a sort of net between the leave or branches they bring down bubble of air and release them into the net causing it to bulge up and create a dome of air that they can enter through the bottom.
From there they can exit to catch food,bring it back in to eat, lay eggs and raise a family. They usually lay about 100 eggs and 3 weeks later they hatch and 2 weeks after that they leave the bubble and go to the surface. They climb up a weed a couple of feet tall and spin a strand of web and it is caught by the wind and off they sail. Some end up in ponds in France, Italy or Spain and some have traveled as far as India and China.
God teaches them to build their bubble homes large enough before winter to last them for 5 months during the period of time when the pond is frozen over.




The Albatros: They are called the "Wandering Albatros" because they can travel thousands of miles over the Pacific Ocean while soaring around looking for food. They are the largest ocean bird in the world and live for the most part on or near Wake Island where they roost at night.
They are white with black on the top of their wings and back. They weigh 17 lbs., have webbed feet to help them swim for food and are probably the most clumsy bird on dry land. They are more graceful soaring in the sky. Their wings are 12 feet long and only 6 inches wide and are made for gliding. The reason they look so clumsy on land is that their wing muscles are weak and they have trouble getting airborne. While in the air they rarely ever flap their wings. God gave them long gliding wings instead of strong wing muscles.
They head out early in the morning to catch squid and fish gliding about 50 feet above the water and God gave them excellent vision to spot food and when he does he dive into the water and comes up with a beak full of good seafood. Now how is he going to get back in the air? He uses his webbed feet to raise up out of the water, spreads his wings, faces the wind and it lifts him into the air, then he turns around and glides with the wind above the water increasing speed and then turns again facing the wind and it's force lifts him high into the sky.
They live to be about 30 years old and for the first couple of years they date around and when they find that special one they want to spend forever with they mate and never part. She has her first egg at about 8 years old and lays only 1 per year and they take care of the little one for a year.
God had to create in the Albatros something special. You see while they are soaring far from land during the long day they get thirsty and need water to drink. So God created a special system located behind their eyes that allow them to come down and take a drink of salty sea water and all the salt is taken out and the lifegiving water is used.
We serve a might God that never overlooks even the smallest detail when it come to taking care of those He loves.





The Kangaroo Rat: This little fellow lives in the southwestern desert where there is almost never any rain or available water. His body is 6 inches long with brown fur to blend in with the sand for protection. This tail is 8 inches long and kind of acts like a rudder to keep his balance and serves as a third leg to help him sit upright.
Just like us 94% of his blood is water even though he rarely ever actually drinks anything. And just like us his body removes water from his blood to aid the rest of his body cells. He never sweats and much of his urine or waste water is recycled in his body by his kidneys and only lets out the poisons what would do him harm.
The wonderful part of this story is how our marvelous ereator takes care of this little fellow and makes the lifegiving water is body needs. His main diet is seeds that are bone dry. But all seeds have sugar in them and as he chews th seeds his digestive juices take the sugar out of the seeds and sends it to his many body cells where it is burned for fuel creating carbon dioxide and water. Just enough to keep him healthy and happy.
Now if it's available he will lick dew drops off desert plants and he may even eat cactus for it's water but the important thing to remember is that God gave this little creature special abilities to function as long as he lives without taking in any external water.


10 comments:

  1. I have seen a male moose on the side of the road in Vermont. He was enormous and very tall. Intimidating to say the least. And I've never heard of a German Water Spider before. Very interesting.

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  2. Very interesting post, Odie. Kangaroo Rat - does that mean he jumps all over the place?! Amazing though how all the different animals are created to cope with their own individual surroundings.

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  3. This is a super post, Odie! My fascination with animals of all types knows no limits. Humans could learn a great lesson from observing animals. Nearly every waking moment of an animal's day is spent in search of food...food that is urgently needed for survival. Imagine having to spend hours every day of your life hunting for your and your family's food and in many cases, chasing it and catching it before it could be consumed. Animals have very little "spare time." They work hard all day every day of their lives and they do so without complaint. Humans have ample free time on their hands and they spend far too much of it complaining.

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  4. Odie, this was better than an episode of Wild Kingdom!!! Good job!

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  5. We go moose watching every year....it involved buying lots of food and going on roads that no one should ever drive a vehicle on....we have seen quite a few of them.....up in northern maine....half the fun we have is just that driving in the middle of no where...

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  6. This is fabulous Odie - very informative. I especially liked the spider. Which is weird because I don't like spiders. Neat-o! Thanks.

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  7. The study of creation is inexhaustable. I have seen moose many times here in Canada. The spider and the rat were the most fascinating to me.

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  8. It's amazing what an animal can do to survive on what they are surronded in.

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  9. Wow - I didn't know half of this stuff, very interesting! Thanks for doing all the research for me :) God always amazes me with the creative ways he made these animals and the unique characteristics and abilities he gave them!

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