Page 98 - Magnificence Everywhere

THE AFFECTION OF GREBE BIRDS
FOR THEIR OFFSPRING

What might be expected from an animal that has no consciousness is its leaving
its offspring after giving birth. However, on the contrary, animals take all the re-
sponsibilities for their offspring to such an extent that they don't neglect measures
that could protect their broods from dangers they might face in the future.
One of the best examples of this is the grebe, a species of water bird. Grebes carry
their offspring on their backs and, for this reason, the parents become a kind of
floating nest for their offspring. The newly hatched youngsters climb onto the back
of the father or mother. The mother slowly raises her wings so that her offspring
will not fall off and feeds them with morsels she holds in her beak, reaching her
head out to one side.
However what grebes give to their offspring first is not actual food. Grebes first
make their offspring eat feathers that they either collect from the surface of the
water or pluck from their breasts. Each chick swallows a large number of feathers.
Well, what might be the reason for this interesting diet?
The feathers the chicks eat are not fully digested but rather gathered in their
stomachs. Some of them form a felted plug at the point where the stomach leads to
the intestine. Fish bones and indigestible parts of other foods accumulate here.
Thus, sharp fish bones or hard parts of insects are prevented from passing through
the stomach and doing harm to the delicate walls of the intestines. This experience
of eating feathers will continue throughout the bird's life. However, the first feath-
ers it is fed are an important precautionary measure for its very health. 35
It is possible to see in all creatures behavior like that of the grebes, actions aimed
at meeting the needs of the offspring and protecting them in every way. Every crea-
ture on Earth assumes every kind of responsibility for their offspring until they
reach sufficient maturity to meet their own needs.
This kind of behavior seen among creatures in nature nullifies the evolutionists'
claims that "nature is an arena for battle and the survival of the fittest." It is obvious
that the origin of this kind of behavior in creatures cannot be in their intelligence
Magnificence Everywhere spiration of Allah. Allah inspires every creature in its behavior and they conform to
and that a bird, tiger or any other animal cannot act according to the needs of other
animals, taking delicate details into consideration. These creatures behave by the in-

this perfectly. Every one of them obeys Allah who has created them. This fact is
stated in the Qur'an as follows:

Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him. All are submissive

96 to Him. (Surat ar-Rum: 26)