Page 156 - For Men of Understanding

THE HERO OF AN UNUSUAL BIRTH STORY: THE KANGAROO

The reproductive system of kangaroos is quite different from that of other
mammals. The kangaroo embryo goes through some stages outside the womb,
which normally occur in the womb.
Soon after fertilisation, the blind kangaroo offspring, which is approxi-
mately a centimetre, comes into the world. Usually, only one is born at a time.
At this stage, it is called "neonate." While all mammals go through this stage in
the mother’s womb, the kangaroo offspring comes into the world when it is
only one centimetre long. It has still not developed: its fore feet are indef-
inite and its hind feet are comprised of small projections.
No doubt, the offspring cannot leave its mother in such a state.
Coming out of the womb, the neonate starts to move up in its mother's
fur with its fore legs and reaches to its mother’s pouch after a three-
minute journey. To the little kangaroo, the pouch means the same as the
womb means to other mammals. Yet, there is an important difference.
While others come into the world as babies, the kangaroo is merely an
embryo when it comes out of the womb. Its feet, face and many other
organs have not yet taken their final shapes.
The offspring reaching the mother’s pouch attaches itself to one of the
four nipples there, and starts to suckle.
At this stage, the mother goes through another ovulation period and
a new egg forms in its womb. The female copulates once more and the
new egg is fertilised.
This time the egg does not start to develop immediately. If drought
rages in Middle Australia, as is often the case, the fertilised egg in the
womb remains undeveloped until the drought is over. If, however, heavy
rains fall and if there are rich pastures available, then the development of
the egg restarts.
At this stage, we are faced with the question: who makes this calcu-
lation; who arranges the development of the egg according to the condi-
tions outside? The egg cannot by any means make this arrangement itself;
it is not a complete living being, it has no consciousness, and it is totally
unaware of the weather conditions outside. The mother cannot make this
arrangement, because, like all other living things, it has no control over the
developments taking place in its body. Allah, Who has created both the egg
and the mother, definitely controls this extraordinary event..
When weather conditions are convenient, thirty-three days after fertilisation,
the new neonate, only as big as a bean, creeps up from the mouth of the womb
and reaches the pouch just like its sibling did.
In the meantime, the first neonate in the pouch has grown considerably. It
leads its life without doing any harm to its sibling, which is only one centime-

154 For Men of Understanding