HONEY ANTS---A DESERT DELICACY

 YUMINIYA, our Aboriginal friend, wants to share one of her desert secrets with us. Leading us into arid scrub north of Alice Springs in central Australia, she carefully examines the sandy ground. There, underneath the mulga trees, a species of acacia, she spies the tiny creatures that will lead us to a sweet reward. They are honey ants.

She digs vigorously, following ant tunnels deep into the sandy soil. Soon her hole is more than three feet (1 m) deep and wide enough to sit in. “You can dig for honey ants any time of the year, but winter is best because in summer you get too hot,” she calls out from the hole. We watch as she studies the exposed tunnels with a trained eye. “You need to know which one to follow,” she explains.

Yuminiya soon finds the nest. Inside are at least 20 honey ants whose swollen abdomens, as large as grapes, are filled with amber liquid. The little insects hang from the earthen ceiling, unable to move because of their bloated state. Within minutes, Yuminiya collects over a hundred ants from several chambers. “The honey of these ants is one of our sweetest bush foods,” she says.

Living Honey Pots

Honey ants are one of the most unusual of the more than 10,000 known ant species. Unlike bees, which store honey in honeycombs, honey ants store nectar inside the living bodies of worker ants called repletes. The ant colony draws upon these living “honey pots” during lean times.

To deposit or withdraw food, an ant will use its antennas to tap the right code on the antennas of a replete. The replete then opens its mouth to unlock the “honey pot.” A special stomach valve, composed of four flaps, controls the flow in or out. Over a lifetime of several months, a replete can apparently be drained and refilled several times.

Repletes normally live a sedentary but safe existence underground, where they are protected from drought, heat, and insect predators. In this dark subterranean world, they guard against bacteria and fungi by smearing their bodies with antibiotic fluid from a special gland.

Where does the “honey” come from? The food chain, as it were, begins with the sap and nectar of acacia trees. Next, tiny insects called aphids feed on these natural juices. Worker ants then milk the aphids of some of their excess sugar, which is called honeydew, or they collect nectar directly from the trees. Finally, the workers feed this collected liquid to the repletes. Of course, since the inactive repletes have modest nutritional needs, most of the honeydew ends up in the “honey bank”!

But what about the aphids? Are they the losers here? Not at all. For one thing, the ants leave them adequate nectar. For another, the ants protect the aphids from parasites and predators. Yes, both ants and aphids are winners in this symbiotic partnership called mutualism.

“Go to the ant,” says the Bible, “see its ways and become wise. Although it has no commander, officer or ruler, it prepares its food even in the summer; it has gathered its food supplies even in the harvest.” (Proverbs 6:6-8) How true these words, for ants are indeed cooperative, highly organized, and industrious! And how amazing that these hardy desert dwellers manage to produce such a sweet delicacy in such inhospitable surroundings!

For more informative articles see AWAKE magazine at www.jw.org

WONDERS OF CREATION EXALT JEHOVAH

 JEHOVAH GOD is more exalted than imperfect humans can imagine. His creative works on earth and in the heavens bring him praise and fill us with awe.—Psalm 19:1-4.

As the Creator and Universal Sovereign, Jehovah certainly deserves to be heard when he speaks. But how amazed we would be if he were to speak to us mere humans here on earth! Suppose he spoke to you, perhaps through an angel. Surely you would pay attention. The upright man Job must have listened very attentively when God addressed him some 3,500 years ago. What can we learn from God’s words to Job regarding the earth and the material heavens?

Who Founded the Earth, and Who Controls the Sea?

Out of a windstorm, God asks Job about the earth and the sea. (Job 38:1-11) No human architect decided how big the earth should be and then helped to form it. Comparing the earth to a building, God asks Job: “Who laid its cornerstone?” Not man! God’s angelic sons looked on and rejoiced as Jehovah created this planet.

The sea is an infant in relation to God, who figuratively clothes it with garments. It “began to go forth as when it burst out from the womb.” God confines the sea as if by bars and bolted doors, and tides are regulated by lunar and solar attractions.

Says The World Book Encyclopedia: “The wind causes most ocean waves, from small ripples to giant hurricane waves more than 100 feet (30 meters) high. . . . After the wind stops, the waves continue to move over the ocean surface and can travel great distances from where they originated. They become smoother and longer. Finally, the waves reach the shoreline, where they break and form the surf.” The sea obeys God’s command: “This far you may come, and no farther; and here your proud waves are limited.”

Who Makes the Dawn Ascend?

God next asks Job about the effects of light and other matters. (Job 38:12-18) No human can command the succession of night and day. Morning light figuratively lays hold of the ends of the earth and shakes out the wicked. Sinners may perform unrighteous acts in “evening darkness.” (Job 24:15, 16) But dawn disperses many evildoers.

In God’s hand, morning light is as a seal from which the earth gets a beautiful impression. Sunlight brings to view many colors, so that the globe seems to be arrayed in splendid garments. Job had nothing to do with this and had not walked about in the watery deep to take inventory of its treasures. Why, to this day researchers have only limited knowledge of oceanic life!

Who Has Storehouses of Snow and Hail?

No man has escorted either light or darkness to its home or has entered the storehouses of snow and hail that God keeps back for “the day of fight and war.” (Job 38:19-23) When Jehovah used hail against his foes at Gibeon, “there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” (Joshua 10:11) He may use hailstones of undisclosed size to destroy wicked humans led by Gog, or Satan.—Ezekiel 38:18, 22.

Egg-size hailstones killed 25 people and injured 200 others in central Henan Province, China, in July 2002. Regarding a hailstorm in 1545, Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini wrote: “We were one day distant from Lyons . . . when the heavens began to thunder with sharp rattling claps. . . . After the thunder the heavens made a noise so great and horrible that I thought the last day had come; so I reined in for a moment, while a shower of hail began to fall without a drop of water. . . . The hail now grew to the size of big lemons. . . . The storm raged for some while, but at last it stopped . . . We showed our scratches and bruises to each other; but about a mile farther on we came upon a scene of devastation which surpassed what we had suffered, and defies description. All the trees were stripped of their leaves and shattered; the beasts in the field lay dead; many of the herdsmen had also been killed; we observed large quantities of hailstones which could not have been grasped with two hands.”—Autobiography (Book II, 50), Harvard Classics, Volume 31, pages 352-3.

What will happen when Jehovah opens his storehouses of snow and hail against his enemies? They cannot possibly survive when snow or hail is used to carry out his will.

Whose Handiwork Are Rain, Dew, Frost, and Ice?

Jehovah next asks Job about rain, dew, frost, and ice. (Job 38:24-30) God is the great Rainmaker, and even “the wilderness in which there is no earthling man” enjoys his blessing. Rain, ice, and frost have no human father or originator.

The Nature Bulletin states: “The strangest and perhaps the most important property [of ice] is that water expands as it freezes . . . The blanket of ice that forms and floats on a pond in winter makes it possible for aquatic plants and animals (fish, etc.) to remain alive in the water underneath. If . . . water contracted and became denser as it solidified, ice would be heavier than water and sink to the bottom. More ice would form on the surface until the pond was frozen solid. . . . In the cooler parts of the world the rivers, ponds, lakes, and even the oceans would all be permanently frozen.”

How thankful we can be that bodies of water do not freeze solid! And we certainly are grateful that as Jehovah’s handiwork, rain and dew invigorate the earth’s vegetation.

Who Set the Statutes of the Heavens?

God next asks Job about the heavens. (Job 38:31-33) The Kimah constellation is usually identified as the Pleiades, a group consisting of seven large stars and a number of smaller ones some 380 light-years from the sun. Man cannot “tie fast the bonds of the Kimah constellation,” binding that group in a cluster. No human can “loosen the very cords of the Kesil constellation,” generally identified as the stellar group called Orion. Whatever may be the present identification of the Mazzaroth and Ash constellations, man cannot control and guide them. Humans cannot alter “the statutes of the heavens,” the laws governing the universe.

God established the laws that guide the heavenly bodies, which influence earth’s weather, tides, atmosphere, and the very existence of life on this planet. Consider the sun. Concerning it, The Encyclopedia Americana (1996 Edition) states: “The sun’s rays supply the earth with heat and light, contribute to the growth of plant life, evaporate water from the ocean and other bodies of water, play a role in the production of winds, and perform many other functions that are vital to the existence of life on earth.” The same reference work says: “To appreciate the vastness of the power that is inherent in sunlight, one need only reflect that all the power represented in the winds and in dams and rivers and all the power contained in natural fuels such as wood, coal, and oil is nothing more than sunlight that has been stored up by a tiny planet [the earth] 93 million miles [150 million kilometers] away from the sun.”

Who Put Wisdom in the Clouds?

Jehovah tells Job to consider the clouds. (Job 38:34-38) Man cannot order a single cloud to appear and release its water. But how dependent humans are on the water cycle that the Creator has established!

What is the water cycle? One reference work states: “The water cycle consists of four distinct stages: storage, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff. Water may be stored temporarily in the ground; in oceans, lakes, and rivers; and in ice caps and glaciers. It evaporates from the earth’s surface, condenses in clouds, falls back to the earth as precipitation (rain or snow), and eventually either runs into the seas or reevaporates into the atmosphere. Almost all the water on the earth has passed through the water cycle countless times.”—Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2005.

Rain-filled clouds are like water jars of heaven. When Jehovah tips them, they may pour down so much rain that the dust becomes mire and the clods cleave together. God can produce rain or hold it back.—James 5:17, 18.

Rain is often accompanied by lightning, but man cannot cause it to fulfill his wishes. Lightnings are represented as reporting to God and saying, “Here we are!” Compton’s Encyclopedia states: “Lightning produces significant chemical changes in the atmosphere. As a stroke moves through the air, it generates tremendous heat that unites nitrogen and oxygen to form nitrates and other compounds. These compounds fall to the Earth with the rain. In this way, the atmosphere is able continually to help replenish the supply of nutrients that soil needs to produce plants.” Full knowledge of lightning remains a mystery to man but not to God.

Wonders of Creation Bring God Praise

Creation’s wonders truly do exalt the Creator of all things. (Revelation 4:11) How Job must have been impressed by Jehovah’s words regarding the earth and celestial bodies in space!

The wonders of creation we have just considered are not the only questions and descriptions presented to Job. Yet, even those we have considered move us to exclaim: “Behold! God is more exalted than we can know.”—Job 36:26.

   
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OSTRICH

[Heb., bath hai·ya·ʽanah′; rena·nim′ (plural)].

The first of these Hebrew names is understood to mean either “daughter of the greedy one” or “daughter of the barren ground,” terms that may aptly apply to the ostrich. The second name, regarded as indicating a “bird of piercing cries,” also fits the ostrich, whose cry is described as a “hoarse, mournful cry which has been likened to the roaring of a lion.”—The Smithsonian Series, 1944, Vol. 9, p. 105; compare Mic 1:8.  

The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is the largest living bird known, at times standing over 2 m (7 ft) high at the crown of the head and weighing as much as 140 kg (300 lb). The head is rather small and flat with very large eyes, the flexible neck is about 1 m (3 ft) long, and like the powerful legs, both head and neck are bare of feathers. The body plumage, however, is luxuriant, the long soft wing and tail plumes being much prized in ancient and modern times. The sleek black and white plumage of the male contrasts with the dull grayish-brown color of the female. The ostrich is unique among all birds in having but two toes on each foot, one of them equipped with a clawlike hoof that becomes a dangerous weapon when the bird is forced to defend itself. Its height and keen vision, however, usually enable it to spot its enemies from afar, and the huge bird then warily moves away.

While the ostrich feeds mainly on vegetation, it is also carnivorous, including snakes, lizards, and even small birds in its indiscriminate diet. It is found among the list of ‘unclean’ birds prohibited by the Mosaic Law. (Le 11:13, 16; De 14:12, 15) Anciently known as the camel bird, the ostrich is able to endure for long periods without water and hence thrives in solitary wastelands. It is used in the Bible, along with jackals and similar creatures, as representative of desert life (Isa 43:20) and to depict the ruinous desolation that became the fate of Edom and Babylon. (Isa 13:21; 34:13; Jer 50:39) Job, rejected and detested, sitting among ashes, and mournfully crying out, considered himself like “a brother to jackals” and “a companion to the daughters of the ostrich.”—Job 30:29.

Contrasted With Stork. Jehovah God later drew Job’s attention to the ostrich, and the things he pointed out strikingly illustrate some of the unusual features of that bird. (Job 39:13-18) In great contrast to the high-flying, majestically soaring storks with their broad powerful wings, the ostrich is flightless; its wings are incapable of sustaining the bird’s weight, and its flat breastbone lacks the “keel” that supports the flying muscles of birds of flight. The ostrich’s plumes, though lovely, lack even the tiny hooklike filaments that cling together and give the feathers of flying birds the resistance to air that makes flight possible.—Job 39:13.

Again in contrast to the stork, which builds its big nest firmly in the tops of trees (Ps 104:17), buildings, or tall rocks, the ostrich merely scoops out a shallow depression in the ground surrounded by a low embankment. Here the female lays the eggs, weighing some 1.5 kg (3 lb) each, and since the ostrich is often polygamous (unlike the stork, which is renowned for its fidelity to one mate), there may be a good number of eggs laid in the nest by the two or three hens. The male ostrich warms the nest eggs during the night and the hen incubates them by day, but she is known to leave the nest for periods during the day when the sun is hot. At such times the eggs, though very thick-shelled, are, nevertheless, vulnerable to damage or despoiling by animals or man.—Job 39:14, 15.

‘Treats Sons Roughly.’ The statement that the ostrich “does treat her sons roughly, as if not hers” (Job 39:16) and reference to ostriches as being “cruel” with respect to their offspring (La 4:3) have been objected to by some who claim that parent ostriches are quite solicitous in caring for their young. While it is true that the Hebrew term (rena·nim′) used at Job 39:13 may grammatically apply to either male or female ostriches, some lexicographers understand it to refer to the female birds. This would seem to be the case in view of the connection with the eggs laid, obviously, by the hen bird. When understood as applying to the female, there is certainly good basis for this poetic expression concerning the ‘cruelty’ of the bird in the fact that, once the young are hatched, the male “assumes all their care while the hens generally go off together.” (All the Birds of the Bible, by Alice Parmelee, 1959, p. 207) It is also true that these powerful birds, both male and female, quickly abandon the nest and their young when sensing danger, and even though they may use diversionary tactics to draw enemies away from the nest, this is still ‘rough’ treatment for the unprotected young. Only the protective coloration given by the Creator is what may save the undefended and abandoned chicks, causing the enemy beasts to overlook them and chase after the fleeing parents. The ostrich may properly be termed “cruel,” then, as compared with many other birds and particularly in contrast with the stork, whose affectionate attention and constant concern for its young are proverbial.

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THE MACADAMIA NUT---AUSTRAILIA'S NATIVE DELICACY

  BOTANIST Walter Hill watched his young assistant in horror. The boy had just eaten nuts from a newly discovered species of tree growing in the subtropical rain forests of southeast Queensland, Australia. Hill had heard that the nuts were poisonous. But the lad neither became ill nor dropped dead. Instead, he found the nuts to be delicious. So Hill tried one himself and agreed. Soon thereafter he began distributing macadamia seedlings to friends and botanists around the world.

Today, some 150 years later, macadamia nuts are popular worldwide—and for good reason. The journal Chronica Horticulturae explains: “The macadamia is considered one of the world’s finest gourmet nuts because of its unique, delicate flavour, its fine crunchy texture, and rich creamy colour.” Little wonder that macadamia nuts are Australia’s most successful indigenous food crop!

A Tough Nut to Crack

Evergreen macadamia trees flourish along Australia’s subtropical east coast. Two of the nine species produce edible nuts, which consist of a fibrous outer husk; a tan, spherical shell, and a marble-size, cream-colored kernel.

The tough shell, however, is hard to crack. The Aborigines used rocks. Pioneer orchardist John Waldron used a hammer and anvil. In fact, with these simple tools, he cracked open about eight million nuts over a period of 50 years. Could machines do the job? Early designs were unacceptable because they tended to damage the kernel. In time, however, more effective machines were built.

Another problem involved reproduction. When planted, nuts from good trees often produced poor quality offspring. And efforts at grafting failed. Faced with these difficulties, commercial cultivation stalled—that is, until the Hawaiians tackled the problem. They made the needed breakthroughs. As a result, they were soon supplying 90 percent of the world’s macadamia nuts. Not surprisingly, they came to be called Hawaiian nuts.

Then, in the 1960’s, Australian growers “took on the macadamia as a serious commercial crop,” applying the lessons learned in Hawaii. As a result, the local industry blossomed to the point that Australia now produces about 50 percent of the world’s macadamia nuts. They are also grown in Africa, Asia, and Central America.

A Visit to an Australian Farm

Awake! visited Andrew, who has a macadamia farm near the town of Lismore, New South Wales. “We plant different macadamia varieties every few rows to encourage cross-pollination,” explained Andrew. Awake! learned that about 80 percent of the many millions of trees planted in Australia are proved varieties selected by Hawaiian breeders. However, Australian breeders are now using genetic material from wild macadamias to produce improved local varieties.

Looking at the trees, we see hundreds of nuts dangling like little balls in the thick foliage. The nuts mature over six months and then fall to the ground. We notice that some of the fallen nuts have holes. “Rats can chew through a shell in eight seconds,” said Andrew. “Wild pigs also love macadamia nuts.” Further along the row, Andrew pauses to kick a half-buried nut free from the dirt. “That’s three cents saved,” he says with a grin. Many farmers harvest the nuts by using a specially designed machine with a drum and short plastic fingers that collect fallen nuts. The nuts are then husked and sorted at the farm, after which they are delivered to a factory to be shelled, graded, and shipped to buyers.

Tasty and Healthful!

As we finish our tour, we munch on a handful of kernels—their rich, creamy flavor leaving us smacking our lips. But are macadamia nuts healthful? The oil content of the nut (largely monounsaturated oil, or good oil) “regularly exceeds 72%, which is the highest for any oil-yielding nut,” says a government fact sheet on macadamia-nut culture. According to recent studies, modest consumption can actually reduce harmful low-density cholesterol and triglycerides and lower high blood pressure.

People enjoy macadamia nuts in chocolate candy, gourmet cookies, or premium ice cream. Others prefer them roasted, salted, or simply straight from the shell. Whatever their preference, most people come back for more.

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BATS-MISUNDERSTOOD, MARVELOUS, VALUABLE, ENDANGERED

     ‘BATS! I hate them! They’re vermin infested, can’t see and get tangled up in your hair, spread rabies, suck your blood. Ugh! They make my skin crawl!’ Are those also your sentiments?

Actually, bats are much maligned little creatures. They are victims of bad press. They groom themselves fastidiously. Most have good eyesight; none are blind. They have no desire to get in your hair. They rarely have rabies, and when they do, they are not inclined to bite you—unlike rabid dogs. “More people die annually from bee stings or pet dog attacks,” one researcher says. And only three of the nearly one thousand different species of bats drink blood.

Merlin D. Tuttle, founder of Bat Conservation International of Austin, Texas, is recognized worldwide as an authority on bats. He informs us: “They make up almost a quarter of all mammal species and come in an amazing diversity, ranging from the world’s smallest mammal—the Bumblebee Bat of Thailand, which weighs a third less than a penny—to giant flying foxes in Java with up to six-foot [1.8 m] wingspans. . . . Some 70 percent of bats eat insects. Many feed on fruit or nectar, and a few are carnivores.” He finds them likable, gentle, intelligent, trainable, badly misunderstood, and absolutely

Marvelous!

Scientific American magazine agrees: “In these days of technological triumphs it is well to remind ourselves from time to time that living mechanisms are often incomparably more efficient than their artificial imitations. There is no better illustration of this rule than the sonar system of bats. Ounce for ounce and watt for watt, it is billions of times more efficient and more sensitive than the radars and sonars contrived by man.”—July 1958, page 40.

Since the bat’s sonar is far more sophisticated than man’s, many prefer “echolocation” as a more accurate word to describe it. As the insect-hunting bat cruises, it emits pulses of sound, each pulse being about 10 to 15 thousandths of a second long. When the sound strikes an insect and the returning echo is received, the bat closes in on its meal. It shortens the length of the pulses to less than a thousandth of a second and increases their emission rate to 200 sound pulses a second, thereby continuously updating the picture it receives as it approaches its prey. In a room strung with fine wires, bats specialized for echolocation miss them all—they can dodge wires 0.04 inch [1 mm] in diameter!

The bat’s echolocation system is further refined by the changing pitch of each pulse, from about 50,000 to 25,000 cycles per second. As the pitch changes, the wavelength rises, starting at about a quarter inch [6 mm] and reaching a half inch [12 mm]. This helps the bat locate targets of varying size, since this wavelength variation covers the size range of most insects on which it feeds. The bat can also tell from the echo whether the object is an edible insect or not. If it’s a hard pebble, the bat will swerve at the last instant.

Most amazing is the bat’s ability to recognize and pick up its own echoes in spite of the noise pollution from thousands of other bats. Millions of bats roosting in caves are flying about saturating the air with cries and echoes, yet each bat distinguishes the echoes from its own cries and thereby avoids colliding with other bats. Complicating the problem and magnifying the marvels of bat echolocation, it must be realized “that the echoes are very much fainter than the sounds they emit—in fact, fainter by a factor of 2,000. And they must pick out these echoes in a field which is as loud as their emitted sounds. . . . Yet the bat is distinguishing and using these signals, some 2,000 times fainter than the background noise!” Such a sophisticated sonar system is beyond our comprehension.

Long-eared bats, we are told, “can hear their echoes perfectly well if they whisper.” Some species have hearing so sensitive that they can hear a beetle walking on the sand from ten feet [3 m] away. They do not, however, hear their own cries when echolocating. “Each time one is uttered an ear muscle contracts automatically, thus momentarily shutting off the sound itself so that only the echo can be heard. It is possible that each animal has its own individual sound pattern and is guided by its own echoes.”

Bat mothers are commendable. Usually having only one pup a year, some carry it with them when they fly out to feed. Others leave it in a nursery in a cave, packed in a mass, 5,000 [4,000] to a square yard [meter]. When the mother returns, she calls to her baby and baby calls back, and in the pandemonium of millions of squealing babies and calling mothers, she finds her pup and lets it nurse. Some females are very altruistic. Returning from feeding, she will share her meal by regurgitation with other females who were unable to find food.

Valuable

One insect-eating bat, Tuttle says, ‘can capture up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour, eat 3,000 insects in a night.’ One colony of bats in Arizona was found “to devour about 350,000 pounds [160,000 kg] of insects, or about the equivalent weight of 34 elephants, every night!”

Some bats are nectar feeders, rendering valuable service as pollinators. Hovering over blossoms like hummingbirds, their long tongues, tipped with brushlike bristles, mop up nectar and pollen. They are tropical animals and migrate between Mexico and the southwestern United States. Those that eat fruit spread the seeds over wide areas. Tuttle says: “Fruit and nectar-eating bats that disperse seeds and pollinate flowers are vital to the survival of rain forests and to the production of associated crops worth millions of dollars annually.”

New Scientist magazine, September 1988, said: “Farmers who slaughter fruit bats because they consider them to be pests may suffer still greater losses in production because the bats cross-pollinate their fruit trees.” Fruit for shipment is harvested five to seven days before ripening, for local use two to four days early, but bats eat only the unharvested ripe fruit—worthless to farmers. Bat pollination and dispersal of seeds is crucial for more than 500 species of plants and trees. Incidentally, fruit bats do not fly by sonar—they have good eyesight. Often it’s the farmers, not the bats, who are blind.

Endangered

Nevertheless, the invaluable bats have fallen on hard times. Loss of habitat, pesticides, and indiscriminate slaughtering of large numbers are cutting their numbers from millions to thousands and sending some into extinction. Prejudice, misunderstanding, and just plain ignorance are usually responsible. In Latin America the common vampire bat does require control to safeguard modern man’s livestock, but “poorly trained vampire control agents often indiscriminately kill all bats, unaware that the vast majority of the area’s 250 other bat species are highly beneficial.”

In Australia, thousands of flying foxes, fruit bats, have been wiped out, “despite the fact that some of the area’s most ecologically and economically important trees rely on them” and that “the government’s own investigative findings that crop damage by the bats does not warrant control.” In Israel, “caves suspected of sheltering fruit bats were poisoned—even in nature preserves—inadvertently destroying some 90 percent of the country’s insectivorous bats.”

Old fears concerning bats as carriers of rabies and other diseases are greatly exaggerated: “The odds that a person will die of a bat-borne disease are extremely remote, far less than those of being killed by a dog, a bee sting, or food poisoning at a church picnic.”

Science Year for 1985 sums up its article on bats as follows: “Unfortunately, as the list of the helpful contributions of bats continues to grow, so do the threats to the existence of these creatures. Worldwide, bat populations are declining rapidly. Each year, large bat colonies die out because their habitats are disturbed or destroyed. In Africa and Asia, bats are being hunted in ever-increasing numbers for human food and for use in folk medicines and potions. Fruit-eating bats, which feed chiefly on the fruits of native forests, are often killed by farmers who mistakenly believe that the bats seriously damage their crops. And the myths about bats persist so strongly that millions of the animals are exterminated each year simply because people are afraid of them. Some species of bats are already extinct, and many more are endangered. Until more people come to recognize the value of bats and the need to protect them, the future of these important animals remains uncertain.”

After listing some of the gains made by Bat Conservation International, Merlin Tuttle concludes: “We have only scratched the surface of what must be done if healthy bat populations are to survive. For some, it is already too late and for others, time is running out. The loss of bat populations poses serious, potentially irreversible, consequences for the environment that we all must share.”

Here again, the message is clear: Both ancient and modern history show that man cannot direct his own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23) His love of money, his short-sightedness, and his self-centeredness result in the destruction of the environment—air, water, soil, and plant and animal life—and of people too. Only Jehovah God will stop it. Only he will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Revelation 11:18.

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"AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY"

 

LOOK at those lovely red apples. Do they not look tempting? They certainly do—and no doubt for good reason. Apples were designed to contribute to your well-being and good health. Among the many kinds of fruit beneficial for food, the apple is one of the foremost. Thus, they tempt you into being good to yourself.

The apple tree belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae), as do the pear, the quince, the whitethorn, and the service tree. The sap of all these trees is rich in sugar. Their very fragrant fruits come in various shades of green, yellow, and red, with flavors ranging from tart to sweet.

Worldwide about two billion bushels of apples are produced each year—between 17 and 18 million tons. In the United States, about half are eaten fresh. The rest go into such items as apple butter, apple juice, applesauce, apple jelly, apple brandy, apple cider, apple pies and other pastries, apple vinegar, and apple wine. In Europe a larger fraction of the crop goes into cider, wine, and brandy. Of the total world production, about one fourth goes into cider.

But long before the fruit becomes pleasant to our palate, the apple tree in full bloom is a delight to our eyes. It is decked with rosy-edged white blossoms in such profusion that if all of them developed into apples, the tree would be incapable of supporting the weight. An early summer storm will usually see to it that some of the blossoms are carried away.

Apple Cultivation

The apple tree grows best in Temperate Zones. And it has been cultivated since time immemorial. Apple trees and apples are mentioned six times in the Bible. The Romans enjoyed them, and in their numerous military conquests, they spread various kinds of apples throughout England and other parts of Europe. The early American colonists brought apple seeds and apple trees with them from England.

By much experimenting, generations of cultivators have improved the quality of apples through breeding. This, however, is not a speedy process. Producing a marketable new brand of apple may take as long as 20 years. But today, thanks to the perseverance of cultivators, we have a great variety of juicy and colorful apples from which to choose.

Harvesting

The apple season starts in July or August in the Northern Hemisphere. But the first varieties to ripen, such as the James Grieve or the Transparent, cannot be stored for long. They should be eaten soon, either raw or stewed. However, they sharpen our appetite for what is to follow: Summerred, Gravenstein, Cox’s Orange, Jonathan, Boskop, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Granny Smith—to name just a few of the thousands of varieties.

Apples should be harvested in dry weather. They should be picked carefully so that the new shoots and their leaves are not damaged. When apples are really ripe, turning the fruit slightly will easily break it loose from the branch. It is important to watch that the stalk is not broken off the apple, as this would cause a lesion, impairing the life of the fruit.

Late varieties should be left on the tree as long as possible—weather permitting. If because of an early frost the apples freeze on the tree, picking should be postponed until they have thawed. Apples can stand temperatures a few degrees below the freezing point, depending on their level of ripeness and their sugar content, but once frozen and thawed, they cannot be stored. They should soon be processed into juice, stewed fruit, or vinegar; they cannot be dried.

Storage

An interesting feature of apples is that they breathe. They absorb oxygen from the air and exhale carbon dioxide as well as water. Therefore, the warmer the environment, the sooner they dehydrate and shrivel. Through breathing they also absorb odors from their environment. Therefore, it is best to store them by themselves at a temperature of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit [5°C].

Storing apples in a cellar together with potatoes will cause the apples to lose some of their fresh flavor. Moreover, the different varieties should be kept separate. And it is best if apples are individually wrapped in paper. This slows down dehydration and reduces the danger of contamination by rotting neighbors.

Health Value

It has been said that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” While that is not always the case, the apple does have this favorable reputation. Why? Because of the things it contains that can affect one’s health for the good.

Each single apple is a small storehouse of important nutrients. When ripe, it contains vitamins B₁, B₂, B₆, C, and E. It also offers a variety of sugars, such as dextrose, fructose, and sucrose. The combination of acids in it is responsible for the flavor. In addition, it contains a number of mineral substances, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and others, as well as pectin and fiber. About 85 percent of the apple is water.

Another substance found in apples is ethylene, which functions especially as a natural growth regulator that promotes the ripening of the fruit. This gaseous substance can be put to good use if you have green tomatoes or hard avocados. Put them in a paper bag with a few ripe apples, and they will ripen more quickly.

Since apples have health value, it is important to know when and how to eat them. First of all, they should be ripe. And it is better not to eat cold apples; let them sit at room temperature for a while. It is also important to chew them well.

Interestingly, apples have properties that are said to be beneficial for cleansing the digestive system. These same properties aid in curing both constipation and diarrhea.

A Word of Caution

Apples, as well as other fruits, are susceptible to mold. Because of this, a measure of caution is appropriate. Resulting toxins can cause discomfort and nausea. Therefore, watch out for mold, and cut out not just the moldy portion but a section around the spoiled area as well, for the toxin tends to spread out.

Nevertheless, apples contribute to your good health. So if you want to “keep the doctor away,” then try eating an apple each day!

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THE TAIL OF THE AGAMA LIZARD

THE agama jumps from a horizontal surface onto a vertical wall with ease. But if that surface is slippery, the lizard loses its footing, yet it still makes a successful landing on the wall. How? The secret is in the lizard’s tail.

Consider: When agamas jump from a coarse surface—which provides grip—they first stabilize their body and keep their tail downward. This helps them to jump at the correct angle. When on a slippery surface, though, the lizards tend to stumble and jump at the wrong angle. However, in midair, they correct the angle of their body by flicking their tail upward. The process is intricate. “Lizards must actively adjust the angle of their tails just right to remain upright,” says a report released by the University of California, Berkeley. The more slippery the platform, the more the lizard must raise its tail to ensure a safe landing.

The agama’s tail may help engineers design more-agile robotic vehicles that can be used to search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake or other catastrophe. “Robots are not nearly as agile as animals,” says researcher Thomas Libby, “so anything that can make a robot more stable is an advancement.”

What do you think? Did the agama’s tail come about by evolution? Or was it designed?

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A DESIGNER OF ROBOTS EXPLAINS HIS FAITH

INTERVIEW | MASSIMO TISTARELLI

                 Taken from AWAKE magazine February 2013

Professor Massimo Tistarelli is a scientist at the University of Sassari in Italy. He is an associate editor of three international science magazines and has coauthored more than a hundred scientific papers. He studies how humans recognize faces and do such seemingly simple things as catching a ball. He then designs visual systems for robots—systems that imitate what we do. Awake! asked him about his faith and his work as a scientist.

What is your religious background?

My parents were nonpracticing Catholics. As a young man, I leaned toward atheism. I was taught that life originated by means of evolution, and I accepted that as fact. Yet, even though I did not believe in a personal Creator, I felt that there must be something higher than us. In order to find out what, I explored Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, but I found their teachings to be unsatisfactory.

What led to your interest in science?

From childhood, I was fascinated with machines. I even used to take my electric toys apart and reassemble them. And I would ply my father, a telecommunications engineer, with endless questions about how radios and telephones work.

What has your career as a scientist involved?

I studied electronic engineering at the University of Genoa, and then I did doctoral research in robot design. I specialized in studying the human visual system and in devising ways to imitate it for the design of robots.

Why did our visual system interest you?

It is incredibly sophisticated, encompassing much more than the eyes—it even includes the means to interpret what we see. For example, consider what happens when you catch a ball. As you run to make the catch, the lens of your eye focuses an image of the ball onto your retina. That image will move across your retina in a way that depends on the movement of both the ball and your eye. Normally, of course, you keep your eye fixed on the ball. Its image then becomes stationary on your retina while the background “moves.”

At the same time, your visual system calculates the speed of the ball and its trajectory. Amazingly, the calculations start right there in the retina as your eye estimates the movement of the ball in relation to its background. Your optic nerve then transmits the impulses formed by the retina to your brain, which further analyzes the information and directs you to intercept the ball. The whole process is breathtaking in its complexity.

What persuaded you to believe in a Creator?

In 1990, I spent a few months in Dublin, Ireland, doing research at Trinity College. As I was traveling home with my wife, Barbara, we considered the future of our children. We also decided to visit my sister who was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. My sister gave me a copy of the book Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? published by the Witnesses. The careful research that had gone into this work impressed me. It then dawned on me that I had accepted evolution without really questioning it. For example, I had assumed that evolution was well supported by the fossil record. But it is not. Indeed, the more I examined evolution, the more I became convinced that the theory is more bluster than fact.

I thought about my work with robots. Whose designs was I imitating?

Then I thought about my work with robots. Whose designs was I imitating? I could never design a robot capable of catching a ball as we can. A robot can be programmed to catch a ball, but only in precisely controlled conditions. It cannot do so in circumstances for which it has not been programmed. Our ability to learn is vastly superior to that of a machine—and mere machines have makers! This fact is just one of many that led me to conclude that we must have had a Designer.

Why did you become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

In part, it was because Barbara and I liked their thorough study methods. I was especially impressed with the research that goes into their publications. Solid research appeals to people like me, who want to probe into the details of things. For example, I became deeply interested in the many prophecies, or predictions, in the Bible. My study of those convinced me that the Bible really is from God. In 1992, Barbara and I were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Has your study of science weakened your faith?

 On the contrary, science has strengthened my faith. For example, consider how we recognize faces. A baby can do this within hours after birth. You and I can instantly recognize someone we know, even if he is in a crowd. We may even discern his emotional state. Yet, we may be completely unaware that this recognition involves the processing of a phenomenal amount of information at an incredible speed.

Yes, I am fully convinced that our visual system is a precious gift from Jehovah God. His gifts, which include the Bible, move me to thank him and to talk about him to others. After all, my sense of justice tells me that he should get the credit for his productions

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SANITARY INSPECTORS OF THE SKIES

If asked to name the bird they would least like to meet, many would say the vulture.

Few birds have been so vilified as the vulture. It is the accursed bird whose sinister silhouette wheels over the dead and the dying. Its appearance is said to herald carnage, desolation, and despair. But such is the stuff of fiction.

As for the facts: Many have been enthralled by the vulture’s grace in flight and the tender way it cares for its young. They have also discerned its important ecological role. To such ones the vulture is both magnificent and indispensable.

Admittedly, vultures have a few things against them, apart from their unsavory feeding habits. They would certainly not win any beauty contests, and their calls have been variously described as squeals, cackles, grunts, croaks, and hisses. They do, however, have some endearing qualities.

The vulture is a bird that takes parenthood very seriously. Every year an “only child” receives the undivided attention of both parents until it can fend for itself. A young vulture chick perched helplessly for several months on an inaccessible ledge certainly needs the compassionate care of both parents. In fact, a young Andean condor has to be fed for six months before it can leave the nest, by which time the “chick” is nearly full-grown.

And vultures have the virtue of being eminently useful. Although many birds benefit mankind in one way or another, vultures perform a unique service. They are sanitary inspectors of the skies.

Sanitary Inspection

Cleaning up carcasses is not everybody’s idea of a favorite daily chore, but it is an important job. Proper sanitation requires the prompt removal of dead bodies, which can be dangerous sources of infectious diseases for both man and beast.

Here the vultures come into their own. Even meat contaminated with anthrax or botulin is gobbled up with impunity, until nothing remains but the bones.

Some vultures even specialize in eating bones. The lammergeier vulture of Eurasia and Africa drops bones from a height onto a rocky surface. When the bones split open, the lammergeier eats the marrow and the smaller pieces of bone.

Fortunately, unlike their human counterparts, these sanitary inspectors have never gone on strike. If the vultures’ work was left undone, tropical plains littered with disease-ridden carcasses would be a familiar sight.

But let us follow a team of vultures on a typical workday.

Skyway Patrol

Soon after sunrise, they take to the skies, each one to cover a certain area. Throughout the day our squadron of vultures tirelessly patrols the skies in search of dead animals. When a carcass is finally spotted by one of their number, he goes into a steep dive. This attracts the attention of the other birds, who also hasten to the spoil. Within minutes, dozens of birds arrive at the scene.

Before eating, the birds hop around the carcass hesitantly. Despite their reputation, they are extremely shy creatures. Finally, one of them starts tearing at the carcass, and this is the signal for the whole group to attack the meal. There is a lot of squabbling and hissing, pushing and pulling, which looks uncannily like a rugby football scrum. The hungriest, who protest the most energetically, usually get fed first. If it is a large carcass, there will be enough food for all.

In a matter of minutes, the meal is over, and leaving only the bones, the flock takes to the sky to continue the search. A vulture’s life is not an easy one. It may be two or three days before they have another meal.

Eyesight and Teamwork

Vultures are admirably equipped for aerial surveillance. Their massive wings are perfectly designed for gliding and soaring, enabling them to fly for hours with barely a wing beat. They are adept at taking advantage of thermals, or rising hot-air currents, which serve to keep them aloft with minimal effort. Dean Amadon, prominent American ornithologist, described them as one of “nature’s most eloquent expressions of flight.”

A question that intrigued ornithologists for many years was, How do vultures find carcasses so quickly?

The answer turned out to be a combination of sharp eyesight and teamwork. It has been calculated that a vulture circling overhead at a height of about 2,500 feet [750 m] can spot an object on the ground that is less than five inches [13 cm] long. But even with such penetrating vision, a lone vulture would be hard-pressed to find food.

Hence, teamwork is essential. It has been observed that vultures divide up to patrol different areas. If one vulture descends toward a carcass, his distinctive swoop is the signal to nearby birds that food is in the offing, and they immediately fly in that direction. Their change of course is likewise spotted by more distant birds, who also hasten to the scene. This aerial telegraph system is surprisingly efficient, so much so that it may appear to an observer that all the birds arrive almost simultaneously.

Sadly, such efficiency and undeniable usefulness have not sufficed to guarantee the vultures’ protection and survival.

The Return of the Condor

Despite being counted among the largest and most impressive birds of prey, vultures are facing extinction in many parts of the world. Their traditional food has disappeared from the plains, and not infrequently the carcasses they do find have been poisoned. Their slow breeding rate also makes it difficult for their decimated populations to recover.

Nevertheless, there are some heartening success stories. A program for the artificial breeding of California condors seems to be proving successful, and it is hoped that more birds can soon be returned to the wild. Thanks to the efforts of French conservationists, the griffon vulture has reestablished itself in the Massif Central, France, after an absence of many years.

Thus, the bird that people once loved to hate has become a symbol of man’s efforts to save those species that he has endangered. Undoubtedly, the majestic flight of the condor over the sierras of North and South America is a sight too precious to squander.

Meanwhile, in Africa and Asia, the vultures still unassumingly perform their thankless task, that of sanitary inspectors of the skies.

 

Vultures on Record

  VULTURES are counted among the rarest and largest birds of the world. And they hold the avian altitude record as well.

  The California condor is one of the most endangered species in the world. To save this vulture from extinction, strenuous efforts are being made through a breeding program among the two dozen birds in captivity. In 1986 only three California condors were left in the wild.

  The Andean condor, along with the marabou stork of Africa, has the greatest wingspan of all land birds, over ten feet [3 m]. It is also the heaviest bird of prey, sometimes weighing in at over 30 pounds [14 kg].

  Vultures are high fliers as well. In 1973 an African vulture (Gyps rueppellii) collided with an aircraft that was flying over Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, at an altitude of 37,000 feet [11,300 m].

 

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