Part III: "The Signs in Living Things" /
When the bird ascending in the warm air current reaches the top, it glides down swiftly. This helps the bird save a great amount of energy both in ascent and descent.
During migration, birds also take atmospheric phenomena into consideration. For instance, they change direction to avoid a coming storm. Melvin L. Kreithen, an ornithologist who made research into birds’ sense of hearing, observed that some birds can hear sounds of extremely small frequencies, which diffuse to great distances in the atmosphere. A migratory bird can therefore hear a storm breaking out over a far away mountain or thunder over an ocean hundreds of kilometres ahead. Besides, it is a known fact that birds are careful to set their routes of migration away from regions where atmospheric conditions are risky.
Only five centimetres tall.
How do birds find their direction without the help of a map, a compass or some similar direction finder during their thousands of kilometres long flights?
The first theory put forward regarding this question was that birds memorise the characteristics of the ground beneath them and thus reach their destination without being confused. Yet, experiments have shown that this theory is incorrect.
In an experiment on pigeons addressing this subject, opaque lenses were used to blur the vision of pigeons. Thus, they were prevented from navigating by landmarks on the ground, yet the pigeons could still find their way even if left some kilometres away from their flocks.
Subsequent research has shown that the magnetic field of the earth seems to act on bird species. Various studies have shown that birds have seemingly advanced, magnetic receptor systems enabling them to find their way by making use of the magnetic field of the earth. This system helps birds determine their direction by sensing the change in the magnetic field of the earth during their migrations. Experiments reveal that migratory birds can even perceive a 2% variation in the magnetic field of the earth.
Some think that they can explain the subject away by saying that birds have a sort of compass in their bodies. The main question, however, lies just here.
The question is: how do the birds come to be equipped with a "natural compass"? We are aware that the compass is an "invention" and a work of human intelligence. So how does a compass - an apparatus produced by man with his collected knowledge - come to exist in the bodies of birds? Is it likely that some years ago, a bird species, while finding direction, thought about making use of the magnetic field of the earth and invented a magnetic receptor for its own body? Alternatively, was a bird species, years ago, equipped with such a mechanism by "coincidence"? Definitely not....
The left illustration shows the twelve factors beneficial to birds while flying:
1. The sun,
Neither the bird itself nor a coincidence can add an extremely advanced compass to the body. The bird’s body structure, lungs, wings, digestive system and its ability to find direction are the examples of the perfect creation of Allah:
"He is Allah - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form.
To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.
Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him.
He is the Almighty, the All-Wise."
(Surat al-Hashr: 24)
The migration story of Monarch butterflies, which live in southeast Canada, is more complex than that of the birds.
Monarch butterflies normally live for only 5-6 weeks after they develop from caterpillar. Four generations of Monarch butterflies live within a year. Three of these four generations live in spring and summertime.
With the coming of autumn, the situation changes. Migration starts in autumn and the generation that migrates, lives much longer than the other generations that lived in the same year. The Monarchs that migrate are the fourth generation in the year.
Interestingly enough, the migration starts exactly on the night of the autumn equinox. The butterflies that migrate to the south live six months longer than the previous three generations. They need to live exactly this long to complete their journey and return.
When thousands of Monarchs perch on a tree, the tree becomes invisible.
The butterflies that go down to the south do not disperse after they pass across the Tropic of Cancer and leave the cold weather behind. After migrating over half of the American continent, millions of butterflies settle down in the middle of Mexico. Here the ridges of volcanic mountains are covered with a great variety of flora. Located at a height of 3,000 metres, this place is warm enough for the subsistence of the butterflies. For a period of four months, from December to March, they eat nothing. As the fat stored in their bodies nourishes them, they only drink water.
Flowers that bloom in the spring are quite important for the Monarchs. After a four-month fast, for the first time, in the spring they give themselves a nectar feast. They now have stored enough energy to return to North America. This generation, which lives a two-month life span extended to eight months, is no different from the three earlier generations in other respects. They mate at the end of March before setting out to their journey. On the equinox, the colony starts flying back to the north. Soon after they complete their journey and arrive in Canada, they die. However, before they die, they give birth to a new generation, which is necessary for the perpetuation of their species.
The newly born generation is the first generation of the year and lives about one and a half months long. Then comes the second and third generations. When it comes to the fourth generation, migration starts over again. This generation will live six months longer than the others will, and the chain will continue in the same way.
This interesting system provokes many questions: how is that the fourth of every four generations lives six months longer? How does this long-lived generation always coincide with winter and has done so for thousands of years? How do these butterflies always start migrating at the equinox, and how do they attune themselves so sensitively, or are they using a calendar?
"Do you not see that everyone in the heavens and earth glorifies Allah, as do the birds with their outspread wings? Each one knows its prayer and glorification. Allah knows what they do".
(Surat an-Nur: 41)
No doubt, there are no answers to these questions through "evolution" or other variants on that theory. The butterflies must have borne these interesting characteristics from the time they came into existence. If the first fourth generation of Monarchs on earth did not have the characteristic to live long, then all the butterflies would die within that winter and these animals would become extinct.
Monarchs must have borne this extraordinary characteristic from the time they were created. "Coincidences" unquestionably do not have such a faculty as could arrange the generations of the animal according to migration. On the other hand, it is also unlikely that butterflies decided to make their fourth generations live longer and arranged their metabolisms, DNA and genes accordingly.
Obviously, the Monarchs were created possessing such features.