ARCHITECTS IN NATURE

ARCHITECTS IN NATURE

Beavers are the first among the excellent architects in nature that come to mind. These animals build their lodges in stationary ponds, but these ponds are special in being artificially formed by dams beavers build over the stream.

Animals in nature attract our attention with the structure of their bodies in particular. The cheetah possesses a perfect skeleton and muscles systems for it to run. The eagle possesses the world's best aerodynamic design. The dolphin has a specially created skin and body so it can swim in the water.

These flawless designs in animals' bodies are each proof to remind us that every species of living thing was created by God.

But possessing a perfect body is not enough. The animal also has to know how to use that body. A bird's wings are only of any use when it succeeds in taking flight, soaring and landing with them.

When we look at the living world through these eyes, we see a most interesting truth. Each animal behaves in the most appropriate manner for the conditions that surround it. Furthermore, this behaviour occurs right from the moment of birth.

It takes only half an hour for a new-born antelope to stand up and run. Baby turtles, buried under the sand by the mother turtle, know they have to break out of their shells and head for the surface. Furthermore, they have been taught that as soon as they emerge they have to reach the sea. It is almost as if animals come into this world fully trained.

And the most amazing example of this amazing education animals have is the homes they so expertly build for themselves.

Being no taller than a few centimeters, termites can erect towers many meters high without using any tools. This admirable nest perfectly protects the inhabitant termite colony with a population of over a million from their enemies and unfavourable external life conditions.

Spiders, for instance, make their webs with threads from their own bodies. Spider thread is five times stronger than steel of the same thickness. Even large flies which move fast through the air cannot escape the strong and flexible trap of the spider web.

There are sticky droplets on Black Widow spider webs. It is impossible for preys caught in these webs to free themselves. The spider's web is sticky, flexible, and amazingly strong. Beyond being a trap, this web is actually an extension of the spider's own body. The spider feels the vibration of every prey that gets caught in the web, and catches it without delay.

The web is produced in the spider's hindquarters. It pulls the thread produced by a special organ with its legs. The sticky droplets on the surface of the thread are actually small bunches of thread. These open out when necessary and the web easily stretches.

There is no doubt that it is the inspiration God gives this creature that causes the spider to build this architectural marvel.

There are many other animals in nature that make amazing homes for themselves just like the spider. Honeybees which make perfect hexagonal hives; beavers, which construct dams suited to fine engineering calculations; termites, which, although blind, build complex skyscrapers; weaver birds; paper wasps, which make multi-storied apartment blocks from paper to name a few… By exhibiting these surprising works of architecture, these creatures reveal to us the skills which are actually given to them by God. Each one of them acts by God's inspiration, as is announced in a verse of the Qur'an:

There is no creature He [God] does not hold by the forelock. (Surah Hud: 56)