The Creator of the universe, the eternal power of existence who has constant awareness of the activity of every cell in our bodies, has endowed us with many fascinating characteristics in the features of our diet and process of reproduction to enable us to live within the ecological stability and principles of adaptation in our natural environment. I will try to explain some of these features to the best of my ability to give you a brief but significant idea of our unique and amazing creation.

Unlike humans, for whom the total development of the fetus and organs takes around 280 days in the womb, we remain in our mother’s womb for a much shorter period. Following a 34–36 day pregnancy, we are born into the world around the size of a bean, blind and earless. As soon as our mothers give birth to us, we crawl by divine inspiration into a pouch created for our protection and development on our mother’s belly. This pouch is why you define both us and kangaroos among the animal kingdom as marsupials. If we did not climb into the pouch created for us to complete the process of our development, we would not be able to live for the first five months of our lives. We feed by sucking the taps of nourishment, the two teats found within the pouch, for the first five months of our lives without leaving this cozy place of security. After about five months hidden in the pouch, we gradually begin to stick our heads out to learn how to benefit from the other substances God has created for us in the universe. While the younger mothers of our species can give birth every year, the older females only give birth every two years or so.

After the first six months we obtain sustenance from our mothers which contains the bacteria and nutritional weaning supplement our digestive system requires to enable us to make the transition from our mother’s milk to the nutrient which becomes the main provision we depend on for the rest of our lives, eucalyptus leaves. In the eighth month of our lives we become a bit more active and sometimes leave our pouch and ride on our mother’s back but we climb back into our pouch at the first sign of danger. We begin to fend for ourselves and eat the eucalyptus leaves with no help from our mothers a year after our birth. We have our very own eucalyptus tree, sometimes even more than one, and we mark the tree by scratching it with our claws, a kind of signature that defines which of us lives in a certain tree.

It may seem unbelievable to you but we hardly drink any water. This is why our name is said to derive from a word of the Aboriginal language meaning “No drink.” This is mainly due to our diet because our need for water is provided by the eucalyptus leaves we eat, which contain 40–60% water, enough for our bodies. As well as this our digestive system and kidneys have been created with a structure that takes the maximum benefit from the water in eucalyptus leaves and wastes the least possible amount of water. The rate of our metabolism is quite low compared to that of other mammals. This is another factor which greatly reduces the loss of water from our bodies, so we do not have to constantly climb down from the trees we live in to find water.

Those who call us lazy because we sleep a lot, an average of twenty hours a day, unfortunately do not know very much about us. Sleep is necessary for us because fibrous eucalyptus leaves contain very little protein and very few other nutrients. This means they provide us with a low energy diet so we have to optimize our use of this energy. The Creator adapted us so that we sleep for 18–20 hours a day to save energy. So never compare us with those who have the ability or energy to be active but waste their valuable lives in unnecessary actions or idleness.

The high content of aromatic oils and various chemical components of cyanide found in eucalyptus leaves are extremely poisonous to many plant-eating animals but we are an exception. God created us with a unique digestive system because the main ingredient of plants, cellulose, is such a hard substance to digest that we have been created with a caecum, a section of intestine much longer (200cm) than that of other mammals, which acts as a chamber of fermentation. Here the high-cellulose eucalyptus leaves are easily broken down by bacteria and microorganisms living in our caecum, a process which then enables our digestion of the leaves. Some of the harmful oils and components (phenol compounds) in the leaves are refined by our liver, which works in an excellent manner, and then these oils are excreted from our body. The creation of our liver, which acts like a special laboratory that can even transform the most dangerous of poisons into harmless substances, has been referred to by evolutionists ludicrously as “a coincidence” or “unaware mutation.”

There are certain things that we must be wary of in our diet. Out of around six hundred different kinds of leaves we can only eat twenty of them, so from around nine kilos of leaves that we pick every day, we only eat one kilo of the least poisonous ones. We usually choose the fresher leaves, and we detect the amount of poison in each leaf by its odor. This is why our noses are one of the most sensitive organs of our bodies. Sometimes we eat earth to obtain the minerals lacking in our bodies. This sharpens our teeth at the same time.

God Almighty, who created even the smallest detail of the universe perfectly, also created our bodies to meet our every requirement. The All-Knowing Designer of the universe created us with arms and paws so we can easily climb up into the eucalyptus trees we use as our homes, our places of habitat. The soles of our paws that are covered in a thick skin, and our arms and legs, which are equipped with strong muscles, and our hook shaped claws enable us to grip onto the trunk and branches of the tree. We can even sleep while we are hanging from a branch. We have five claws on each of our front paws and two of these claws are placed like the thumbs on your hands. These claws enable us to grip and keep a hold on branches. The second and third claws on our hind paws are joined together to enable a stronger grip. We can grip with all four of our paws just like a human grasps with his or her hand and this helps us to walk up the branches and move around in the tree with great ease.

Our body temperature is perfectly adjusted for outdoor life, and our rainproof fur also protects us from the cold, heat and wind. Our fur changes and adapts every season in length and thickness according to our temperature requirements, Australia is situated in the southern hemisphere, so those of us who live in the south have been created with a longer more bristly fur than those in the north so we can cope with the harsh winter conditions. Our fur has patches of different colors on different parts of our bodies; the darker fur on our backs has been created to absorb and preserve heat while the fur on other parts of our bodies is relatively light in color.

To protect ourselves from strong winds we roll our ears up into a kind of ball and turn our backs, the most insulated part of our bodies towards the wind. The fur on our backs is as protective as that of the animals that live in the Arctic. If you see us curled up on a branch in the winter, don’t worry. Due to our incredible fur coat we are as warm and comfortable as you are in your homes.

Unfortunately, we have been subjected to the never-ending desires and ambitions of humankind. The dingoes, iguanas, and some of the eagles and owls that live in Australia do cause us harm from time to time but the massacre inflicted on us by humans in the nineteenth century was heartless and barbaric. Especially from about 1910 to the 1930s my ancestors were killed for our fur and around 80% of our main source of nutrition was destroyed by cutting down eucalyptus trees. In 1927 our species was subjected to the largest massacre ever. They say that over two and a half million of my brothers and sisters were barbarically killed then. It is reported that there are between two and eight thousand of us living today, and the drop in our population is mainly due to agriculture, urbanization and the destruction of the trees we depend on for our habit and nutrition. There has been a huge increase in deaths among us from contagious diseases and attacks by domestic animals like dogs. In recent years, all praise to our merciful Creator, by the great efforts of some foundations and organizations we have been placed under a conservation order.

This description of our exceptional organs, our behavior we are inspired to adopt, and the many blessings bestowed upon us must have explained to you and enlightened you about certain things. May the greetings of the Almighty, He who created us with a liver to enable us to cope with the poisonous leaves, who enables us to feed our offspring in the security of the pouch on our bellies, who created everything in the universe in total cooperation and harmony with each other, be upon you all…

Animals with “Anti-Freeze”

Although it is not clear whether human beings took the idea of anti-freeze, i.e., adding a substance to water to prevent it from freezing, from animals, some animals living in cold climates have a substance in their blood that prevents them from freezing. When the skin or the operculum of fish that live in cold seas comes into contact with ice, their blood starts to freeze, and the fish soon die. The reason for this is the rapid increase of ice crystals in their blood. However, there are many fish species that live in cold areas despite such unfavorable conditions. Some species in these areas retreat to the deep water where the water is -1.8°C to prevent freezing. However, in Antarctica there are fish living in areas that are much colder than this. These fish can protect themselves against freezing in the very cold temperatures of Antarctica thanks to chemical substances in their blood that work like anti-freeze in a car. Could it be possible that this technique of anti-freeze has been codified in the genetic programming of fish not by a conscious Creator but merely by coincidence? Such an idea would be logically difficult to accept. The substance called AFGP (Antarctic Fish Gliko-Protein) found in the blood of fish in Antarctica works as a natural anti-freeze and helps fish survive in icy water without freezing. Special proteins synthesized by genes that have been codified by special programming are linked to ice crystals, and they are thus able to prevent ice crystals from forming in the body of the fish.

Researchers have discovered some of the genes that codify AFGP during their study on some species of fish that belong to the Notothenioidei suborder, which live in Antarctic water without freezing; these fish are the Notothenia coriiceps and the Dissostichus mawsoni. The genes that were discovered codify a protein in a substance that prevents them from freezing. This protein is manufactured in the pancreas, but is not broken down in the intestines. Researchers are still trying to identify the gene that codifies the AFGP. Once this gene has been comprehensively understood, the protein which the gene codifies can be produced artificially and inexpensively. In this way, a small amount of anti-freeze protein injected into the blood to prevent freezing could save many lives. However, for the time being, it seems like a far-fetched possibility that this gene can be inserted into a human genome. All the genes in our body are interrelated with one another, and therefore a new program that would change the formation of the blood, preventing it from completely freezing, might cause many adverse side-effects.

The Miracle of Salt

Many fish have substances that cause the freezing point of their blood to fall below zero. Scientists have determined that the most common of these substances are the salts found in body liquids, in particular sodium chloride. These salts account for an 85% reduction in the freezing point. It is not possible for fish, which are unaware of the physiology of the body liquid and the complex relations of the metabolism with the process of freezing, to have developed such a protection mechanism through evolution.

Fish are not the only animals with anti-freeze. From the world of insects, Cryptopygus antarcticus (the Antarctic springtail) and Achorutes nivicola (the snow flea) are creatures that can survive in very low temperatures. Many animals become motionless or die when the temperature dips below freezing. But the Antarctic springtail can easily move and jump around at these temperatures. The biological reason for this vivacity is the anti-freeze system of this insect. Some of them can even live in glaciers unharmed for a period of up to three years.

Waterproof Fur

The otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) has a different type of protection against cold. The otter has been hunted for its soft, thick, velvet-like fur, bringing it to the brink of extinction. This animal’s fur is such a fabulous protection that otters can swim for days without even getting wet. The thick fur protects the otter from the cold. Unlike many sea animals, the fat layer under the otter’s skin is very thin, and is thus not very helpful against cold. Instead, the One whose Mercy is Endless has granted them a thick fur that protects them from the cold.

Polar Bear Dens

When the dens of polar bears are examined, many fascinating aspects are discovered. If a female polar bear living in Antarctica is pregnant or has just given birth, she makes a den under the snow; this is the only way that she can survive. The cubs are usually born during the middle of winter. When they are born, they are hairless, sightless and very tiny. These totally vulnerable and very needy babies are born in the middle of winter and they need proper dens in order to survive. A typical den consists of a two-meter hole and a round cave half a meter in diameter. It is only about half a meter high. However, this is no ordinary shelter constructed by a simple procedure. In a place where everywhere is covered by snow and ice, this den is dug very carefully under the snow drifts, and every detail necessary for the lives of the cubs is ensured. These dens usually consist of more than one room. Despite the fact that polar bears lack knowledge of thermo-dynamics, they dig out a smaller den above the entrance, ensuring that the warm air in these rooms cannot escape. Throughout winter, snow accumulates at the entrance and on top of the den. The polar bear leaves only a small, narrow channel through this snow drift to allow the air in. The thickness of the roof constructed by the mother bear is somewhere between 75 centimeters to two meters. This roof works as a good insulator, keeping the existing heat inside.

A researcher from Oslo University, Paul Watts, placed a gadget on the ceiling of one of these dens to carefully measure the heat. His findings were surprising: while the temperature outside fell below –30 degrees, the temperature inside never fell below 2 or 3 degrees. The scientists were also amazed to discover that the mother bear constructs her den like an expert physicist, building her nest with perfect insulation. In this warm and protective setting the mother bear does not die of cold because the fat reserves in her body are sufficient for her hibernation period. However, the period of hibernation is an even more interesting issue: the metabolic rate of the mother bear slows down to save energy, thus enabling the cubs to be better nourished. Thanks to these characteristics, granted by the One whose Mercy is Endless, the fat stored in the bodies of polar bears is turned into protein over a hibernation period of seven months, feeding the cubs. This is how the polar bear survives without eating any food for such a long time. Its heart rate decelerates from 70 beats per minute to 8, and the metabolism slows down in accordance with this. As the bear does not eat any food, it does not need to defecate or urinate.

Parenthood in a White World

It seems as if penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) thumb their noses at the freezing cold. The mothers return back to cold seas shortly after laying eggs in order to feed. The mating pairs do not build nests, because there is nothing around them except snow and ice. Yet, they cannot leave their eggs on the ice, for the egg would be immediately frozen. So, while the mother is hunting for food, the father penguin takes care of the chicks over a period of three months. The fathers gather around in a group to carry, initially, the eggs, and then the chicks, holding them on their feet in order to protect them from freezing. The feet of penguins are covered with feathers, and are 80 °C warmer than the outside temperature, thus keeping the egg from freezing. The penguins form a circle with their backs facing out, and the chicks on the inside. Those fathers that happen to be located at the outer most part of the circle change places from time to time with the other penguins to protect themselves from freezing. This is necessary, because the temperature is around -50 °C.

Are such animals as we have discussed here capable of learning and thinking? Or are these abilities that are peculiar only to humans? Differentiating humans from animals along strict lines, Descartes (1596-1650), who said “cogito, ergo sum: I think, therefore, I am,” went so far as to claim that animals do not feel, let alone have an ability to think. Some biologist today argue that animals might not have the ability to think as we understand it, but they can still behave in some logical ways that are peculiar to them, and they can learn. Nevertheless, we cannot give animals credit for comprehending the need for anti-freeze in their blood, the protective characteristics of salt against freezing, how they should make their dens, or form circles to protect themselves against the cold. Rather, we could say that all these are manifestations of the most beautiful names of our Lord. One of the meanings of the 16th verse of the Surat al-Anbiya, It was not for nothing that We created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is between, is that we are to understand that there is a Divine Wisdom and Insight in the creation of each and every one of the creatures of the universe.

References 

• Scott, M., The Young Oxford Book of Ecology, p. 47.
• Manisali, M., Antifirizli Baliklar, S›z›nt›, May 2000.
• Bilyap Aquaristic web site, Fischverhalten beobachten und verstehen, Jorg Vierke.
• O’Toole,C., Stidworthy, J., Mammals: The Hunters, p. 86-89.
• http://www.populerbilgi.com/genel/Fedakarlik2.php – Guinness Books, Remarkable Animals: A Unique Encyclopedia of Wildlife Wonders, p. 21.