Page 67 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

Selfless Devotion of Creatures Within the Family

proaches the nest, the male performs his courting display by darting
around to left and right. He leads the female to his tunnel nest and in-
dicates its entrance by pointing with his head. When the female finishes
laying her eggs inside the tunnel, the male enters through the front, fer-
tilizes the eggs and finally, pushes the female out the back. After several

females have filled the tunnel with eggs, the male guards the nest and
makes sure fresh water keeps on circulating through the tunnel.
Repairing and maintaining the nest as needed, he will keep on guarding
the nest for a few more days after the eggs have hatched. Then he re-
moves the nest's top half, leaving the rest as a nursery for the baby fish
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to use.

How do Animals Achieve All This?
Consider whether it's possible for someone who's never worked on
a building site before, without anyone to explain materials or how to use
them and with no plan to fall back on, to build himself a perfect resi-
dence. Surely not! It's hardly reasonable to expect this feat of an intelli-
gent human being, never mind a fish.

If this behavior of intelligence and skill cannot be expected of a
human, how can we expect it in an animal? They work patiently and
with much dedication in building their nests; and often only their young
live in them. Many of the species given as examples in the preceding
pages don't even have a very complex nervous system, much less a
highly developed brain. When they build their nests, however, they
plan and calculate, apply the laws of physics, use weaving and stitching
techniques requiring skill, along with satisfying their own needs as well
as their offspring's in a practical way. They mix mortar and insulate their
nests with easily obtained materials. But how can a polar bear or bird
know how insulation works? Or deduce that it needs to retain the heat
in its nest? It's self-evident that none of these qualities originates in the
animal itself. So how do creatures come by this inborn knowledge?

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