Page 136 - For Men of Understanding

ALTERNATING FUR COLOUR
ACCORDING TO THE SEASON AND GROUND

The characteristic common to the bird at the top and the rabbit at the bottom is that
the colours of their feathers change according to the season. These animals put on
pure white clothes in winter months whereas they take on a new look in the spring
in accordance with the colour of the soil and vegetation.
Changing colours according to habitat is realised through very complex mechanisms
in the animals' bodies. These mechanisms, which can be said to resemble the
tanning of human skin under the sun, cause colour changes in the coat and fur of
the animals. Just as we cannot prevent our body from tanning or burning under the
sun (except by utilising special methods of protection), the animals too have no
control over the changes in their bodies. The important thing is that this feather
change provides a great protection for the animal. Turning white on snowy winter
days and ochre in other seasons, its feathers provide great camouflage for the
animal.
It could well have been the reverse; the animal
could have been ochre in winter and pure
white in summer, or it could never have
changed colour. In short, there is an obvious
wisdom and calculation in the alternation of
the colours according to the seasons. The
animal cannot estimate and control this.
Certainly the One Who created the animal
endowed it with such a protection.

134 For Men of Understanding