Animals of the RainforestWe have so many animals here in the rainforest. We start learning about the animals and birds even when we are babies. Some animals we hunt for food so we don’t go hungry, while other animals we use for fun as pets. Our favorite pets include frogs, baby birds, toucans, parrots, macaws, chickens, monkeys, pigs, baby alligators, snakes, turtles, agoutis, dogs, and even some insects! Do you have any pets like that? Unfortunately, certain animals have become endangered in the rainforests because of their popularity as pets in other parts of the world. The Remarkable Feet of the JacanaPerhaps in no other bird’s feet is “design” for an intended purpose so evident as in the Jacana. “The Jacana has most remarkable feet. It has very long spreading toes which are exceptionally slender and weak. At first glance it would seem that Nature erred in giving this creature such freakish equipment, but she didn’t. The Jacana spends most of its life stepping from one floating lily pad to another in search of food. Its outlandish feet distribute its weight evenly over the wide surface of the pads, enabling them to support the bird.” In all seriousness, how could a bird with short stubby feet ever develop the long, slender feet and spreading toes necessary to walk on lily pads? Every time a bird with short stubby feet tried to walk on a lily pad, it would sink, and the poor thing would die of frustration in less than a week—if it did not drown before that! And so the Jacana, unintentionally, becomes another witness for God and divine creation, for it is clear to all that the feet off the Jacana HAD to be as they are, from the very beginning, in order to do what the Jacana does—walk on lily pads. FEET ANY LESS THAN OR ANY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE JACANA HAS WOULD NOT WORK AS THE JACANA USES THEM. No theory demanding “gradual change” by chance mutations can account for a highly specialized organ as the feet of the Jacana. Jacana chicks and chick hiding under father’s wings More Jacana facts What do we live in? Houses of the rainforest Text adapted from Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution by Fred John Meldau
Article Version: December 15, 2024
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