Page 28 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

DEVOTION AMONG ANIMALS

matically assert it. Some forms of behavior are, certainly; we
have no way of knowing that all are.

But the plain fact is that the genetic mechanism shows not the
slightest sign of being able to convey specific behavior pat-
terns. What it does is manufacture proteins. By producing
more of certain hormones it could affect behavior in an over-
all way— making the animal more aggressive, more passive
or perhaps even more maternal. But there is not the faintest
indication that it can hand on a behavioral programme of a
specific kind, such as the sequence of actions involved in nest
building.

If in fact behavior is heritable, what are the units of behavior
which are passed on—for presumably there are units? No one
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has suggested an answer.
As Gordon Taylor stated, it's highly unscientific to assert that
complex behavioral patterns are inbred. Conscious serial actions,
like birds building nests, beavers constructing dams or bees making
honeycombs, are of a complexity that requires foresight. The fact
that worker bees and ants are sterile present another convincing
proof that behavior cannot be inbred.
The colony's worker ants display specific behavior that requires
a certain level of knowledge and no little skill at evaluation.
However, worker ants can't possibly acquire any of it genetically be-
cause they are sterile and cannot pass on their features to the next
generation. We must ask evolutionists this question: How did the
first worker ant that acquired its specific behavior pass it along to the
next generation? Not just ants, but also sterile worker bees and ter-
mites display behaviors requiring intelligence, skill, solidarity, disci-
pline, teamwork and devotion. But from the day these creatures first
appeared, millions of years ago, they have been unable to pass on
any of their acquired characteristics.

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