Page 34 - Wonderful Creatures: Children! Have You Ever Thought ?

WONDERFUL CREATURES

THE MARVELLOUS

CO-OPERATION OF THE ANT

AND THE BIRD

There are microbes everywhere that threaten our
health and cause diseases. These microbes are a danger

to other living creatures as well as human beings.
Therefore these creatures, too, need to protect themselves just as

we do. When living creatures are observed, we see that they use
various methods to protect themselves against microbes.

For instance, ants produce a kind of acidic substance that
incapacitates microbes. They apply this acidic substance to

their bodies and to the walls of their nest. In other
words, they know that not only they themselves but also

the nest they live in should be purified of microbes.

How is it that a little ant can know how to act so intelligently?
There is no doubt that the ant’s intellectual capacity is not up to

that. An ant can know neither what a microbe is nor that it should
protect itself from it. The ant should have first analyzed the micro-

be and then found the substance to render it harmless. But how

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