Page 36 - Design in Nature

34 DESIGN IN NATURE

The Respiratory System Special to Insects
Flies fly at extremely high speeds when compared to their size.
Dragonflies can travel as fast as 25 mph (40 km/h). Even smaller insects can
reach up to 31 mph (50km/h). These speeds are equivalent to humans
travelling at the speed of thousands of miles per hour. Humans can only
reach these speeds using jet planes. However, when one considers the size of
jet planes in comparison to the size of humans it becomes clear that these
flies actually fly faster than aeroplanes.
Jets use very special fuels to power their high-speed engines. The flight
of flies, too, requires high levels of energy. There is also a need for large
volumes of oxygen in order to burn this energy. The need for great amounts
of oxygen is satisfied by an extraordinary respiratory system lodged within
the bodies of flies and other insects.
This respiratory system works quite differently from ours. We take air
into our lungs. Here, oxygen mixes with the blood and then is carried on to
all parts of the body by the blood. The fly's need of oxygen is so high that
there is no time to wait for the oxygen to be delivered to the body cells by
the blood. To deal with this problem, there is a very special system. The air
tubes in the insect's body carry the air to different parts of the fly's body. Just
like the circulatory system in the body, there is an intricate and complex
network of tubes (called the tracheal system) that delivers oxygen-
containing air to every cell of the body.
Thanks to this system, the cells that make up the flight muscles take
oxygen directly from these tubes. This system also helps to cool down the
muscles which function at such high rates as 1000 cycles per second.
It is evident that this system is an example of creation. No coincidental
process can explain an intricate design. It is also impossible for this system
to have developed in phases as suggested by evolution. Unless the tracheal
system is fully functional, no intermediate stage could be to the advantage
of the creature, but on the contrary, would harm it by rendering its
respiratory system non-functional.
All of the systems that we have explored so far uniformly demonstrate
that there is an extraordinary design to even the least significant of creatures
such as flies. Any single fly is a miracle that testifies to the flawless design in
the creation of Allah. On the other hand, the "evolutionary process"