Think of yourself as a desert ant. You leave your nest to search for food early in the morning in the deserts of Tunisia, except you do not know where to find food. You, therefore, walk randomly in the desert in a circuitous outward path from your nest until you find food. If you would find food, how do you get it back to your home? How do you go back without having left for yourself any traces or signs in the wasteland, without knowing where you located, and most importantly, without ending up stranded in the scorching heat of the desert? Could you accomplish coming back each day with food? Well, desert ants can.

To find out how ants can do this, scientists observed their behavior, and surprisingly they have found that ants did not follow back on the same trail they randomly took after they left their nests. Instead, ants took a direct route as if they already knew where the nest exactly located. How do these ants find the closest way and shortest distance to their nest from their current locations? Former studies had found that red and forest ants secrete a chemical substance to mark their paths. They leave a trail of chemical scents or visual traces behind them—like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to help you find your way home. However, the structure of desert sands and conditions are not consonant with containing chemicals that will carry an odor or leave visual cues. Even if such markings have made, it is hard to guarantee that they will remain intact long enough considering the harsh conditions of the desert. As in Hansel and Gretel fairy tale kids who could not return home for the breadcrumbs they had left on the trail eaten by birds. Therefore, these desert ants must be equipped with another cognitive mechanism so that they can return to their nests before succumbing to the midday heat.  

Black desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) emerge from their nests in the heat of desert sand, which rises to 70 degrees with the rise of the morning sun, to search for the remains of other insects that were not as heat resistant as they are. They can only survive for one hour on the hot sand and under the blazing sun, which means that within an hour, they must find their food and bring it back home without getting lost. The journey is quite arduous and dangerous each day. If the slightest confusion occurs and they are not able to return to their nest in time, then it could cost them their lives.

Scientists conducted a series of research in the scorching deserts of Tunisia to find out how desert ants take their food to their nests in the shortest route possible. Researchers first determined an anthill and plotted the terrain around it to set up a coordinate plane. They observed that the ants left their nests very early in the morning to begin their daily search for food, and many of them eventually found grubs that had been planted by the scientists. However, researchers moved the ants to locations that they had not previously been to after the ant began carrying the food back to their nests. The attempt was to understand whether there was a “sign placement system” within the ants. This system would encourage the ant to find its last known location, in this instance where it had picked up, then find its way back home. However, the ant instead began heading directly to its nest. It was as if the ant determined its position concerning its nest and set off for it immediately. This experiment was repeated on many ants numerous times and with the same consistent results. The ants, as soon as they had placed on the ground, moved to the nest relative to there. With a wondrous intrinsic coding of some neurons in their nervous systems, they traveled the distance between their new location and the nest in the shortest way possible. In addition to this, the margin of error was very nominal; they found their nests with a ten percent error in the average distance of 500-meters and with an error of only two degrees in angle. Additionally, a fascinating discovery revealed that the ants could calculate errors in their navigation systems. As they approach their destination, they would make adjustments if they need to by moving back and forth in parallel lines to reach the nest with minimum error.

Scientists determined that desert ants have about a thousand lenses in their compound eyes (remember that a human eye has only one lens) and 80 lenses in each of their eyes that can detect polarized light that comes from different points in the sky. Polarized light occurs when sunlight enters the atmosphere of Earth, hits air molecules and other particles, and then scatters in all directions. This dispersion leads to polarization, and the light that starts to vibrate in many planes begins to vibrate in only one plane. Therefore, the strongest of them is a distinct polarization that always makes a 90-degree angle towards the sun. The lens system in the eyes of desert ants uses this polarization to form a kind of Sky Map. These ants will occasionally stop and robotically move their heads while returning to their nest. This brief period allows the ants to make this sky map by surveying the sky and making a mental note of its layout. Researchers believe that ants can then calculate the direction that they need to travel to return to their nest. They repeat this movement along the way to continually update their sky maps. If they cannot find their home, then they utilize a patterned search method with a set of circular motions. It means that each ant knows how far it is from their nest at every point of their journey.

Then, how do ants find their direction to the nest? Perhaps they were guided by the position of the sun in the sky is. To test this hypothesis, researchers placed a set of mirrors to make ants perceive the sun in a different state than where it ordinarily would be. It observed that the ants changed their directions according to the new state of the sun. However, this finding raised another question; researchers wondered how the time of day would affect the ants since the sun moves across the sky during the day. However, this finding raised another question; researchers wondered how the time of day would affect the ants since the sun moves across the sky during the day.

In another part of the experiment, the researchers caught the ants after they found the bait, closed a box over them, and kept them inside the box for several hours so that they could not see the sun and its movements. It expected that the ants would have trouble finding their way back after they were released since a long time had passed, and the sun was in a drastically different position in the sky. However, they once again returned home by using the shortest distance possible. It understood that the desert ants were aware that time was passing even though they could not see the sun.

We now understand that ants determine their direction home by using the sun, but we still do not know how they figure out the distance they must travel to return to their nest. Researchers have developed three hypotheses to explore this phenomenon. The first hypothesis was the energy hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the ants were able to know how much energy they needed on the way back by calculating it they had spent until they reached their food. The depletion of their energy meant the end of their journey. An ant loaded with extra weights to test this hypothesis as soon as it reached its food. The scientists thought that if their body weight increased, then they would not be able to strike reach the nest since they would spend more energy on the return trip. However, in this case, it did not affect the ants, and they returned home in the shortest way possible regardless of their weight.

The second hypothesis was the optical-flow hypothesis. In this hypothesis, it believed that the ants had visual memory, and this was how they remembered the way back. To prove this, scientists prevented the ants from seeing their surroundings by blindfolding the ants when they found their food source. However, the blindfold did not prevent the ants from obtaining the shortest distance back home. As a follow-up to this experiment, the researchers placed an extensive television screen in front of the ants showing an endless desert on the television screen to make the ants feel as if they had crossed the entire desert in this simulation. They used various types of simulations, but the result did not change; the ants found their way.

The last test involved the pedometer hypothesis. It surmised that ants could be counting their steps to determine how far they had traveled. To test whether they were doing so, researchers attached stilts made of hair strands to the legs of one group of ants after they found the food. As their legs now extended, they could move with longer scale steps. Another group of ants had their legs cut below the knee, thus shortened to increase the number of steps needed to walk the required distance back. They then observed the return journey of both groups of ants. The results were astounding; the ants with shorter legs had concluded their course before reaching the nest, while the ants with longer legs ended up passing the nest. Thus, it understood that the ants counted their steps according to the distance they traveled.

The findings reveal that the ants are created with an internal system that keeps track of the steps they take and re-calibrates itself on the way back. People make these complex calculations with measuring instruments and by knowing the laws of trigonometry. However, these small creatures find their way directly back without using any tools or computer applications. They do not use their perception to find direction, and they do not use any other directional methods because they all remember direction and distance as they move forward. If you look at this situation, what would be your simplest explanation? You can only have one definition: These little creatures can measure distances and angles precisely by applying mathematical calculations and trigonometry within their conditions. Since the first day of their existence, these creatures show only a few of the shreds of evidence of the divine power created them out of nothing with wondrous systems and superior abilities in their bodies.

I have put my trust in God, my Lord, and your Lord. No living creature is there, but He holds it by its forelock and keeps it under His complete control. Undoubtedly, my Lord is on a straight path (He governs all that exists and carries out His decrees rightly and with absolute justice). (Surah Hud, 56)

Flies have two wings that are capable of moving independently from each other; these wings go back and forth on a single axis during flight. Technically, the unequal angles of the wings to the abdominal region could have prevented flight. Yet in the case of flies, this abnormal situation is not a hindrance and results in a harmonious wing stroke.

Let’s bring our palms together over our head and then lower them near our legs. How many times can we make this movement in a second? Let’s say two, three, or maybe four times if we are really quick. Flies have the ability to stroke their wings hundreds of times in just a second. There are benefits associated with this series of movements. The surface of the wings and the rear section of the head are equipped with sensitive hairs that are in charge of registering air currents and mechanical pressures and conducting relevant flight data to the brain. The unwanted effects of air currents towards the body surface and wings during the flight are detected via these hairs that house receptors. Thus, the wings are controlled according to the signals arriving from the brain. Therefore, a fly can feel an air curtain (like an insect screen) against it instantly and often times flies away. Sometimes, they also stroke their wings hundreds of times per second to avoid the negative effects of air resistance on the wings. Without these receptors and serial wing movements, the air current would stick to the wing’s surface and would not let the fly, well, fly.

Is it a fly or a plane?

We sometimes witness comparisons between the flight specifications of planes and flies. However, it is a great injustice to the fly to be put in the same basket as a plane. The products of modern technology, such as a plane, are invented after drawing inspiration from the meaningful skills of animals like a fly. It is not possible to build planes with a wing width smaller than 15 centimeters; there are disadvantages to wings smaller than that in terms of generating lift. On the other hand, flies have much smaller and more fragile wing structures (relative to their bodies) and can maintain their flight in a perfect fashion. When a fly extends its rear legs, covered with hairs designed especially for cleaning the wings, and sweeps them over its wings, doesn’t this suggest a fly is more impressive than a plane?

It challenges mountaineers!

A fly challenges mountain climbers by easily moving on the four walls and ceiling of a room – and even on slippery surfaces like glass. What is its secret?

Its ability to stand or walk on the ceiling without being defeated by gravity is possible via some of its organs. The final sections of fly’s legs are like hooks and the tip of this hook is equipped with suction pads. When flies touch a surface, a sticky fluid is secreted from the suction pads. Flies can remain suspended on the ceiling with the help of this fluid. When it approaches the ceiling, extends its legs to the front and flips towards the opposite direction of its approach, it sticks to the ceiling on its abdomen.

The grand architecture in the eye of the fly

Can you complete a jigsaw puzzle of 8000 pieces in a second without any missing pieces? It seems impossible, but let’s accept that you have. Can you fit this puzzle into an area that’s just a couple of square millimeters? It’s not possible for a man of intelligence to pass this test. However, the fly completes this miraculous task every time it uses its eyes in our rooms. We are unaware of the fact that the fly, which draws patterns of colors under the sun light, has such amazing eyes. Its eye is created to contain nearly 8000 ommatidium, which function almost as small eyes. Different areas can be seen via each ommatidium and once images are put together in the brain, the whole picture forms. Through these tiny eyes, shaped as hexagons that resemble honey combs, a fly can see as close as 2 mm – and can even see behind its body! Because of the wise hexagonal design, the ommatidia are placed in the most economical way possible; there are no missing spaces which could cause a lack of clarity. The optical speed of a fly’s eye is nearly 4-10 times faster than the human eye. Flies can see the ultraviolet section of the light spectrum and this allows them to evade predators easily in dim environments. Every time a fly uses its eyes, it’s as if it gives the message, “Look at how miraculously I’ve been created. Do you think that my creation could have been in vain?” Such complexity is an inspiration to scientists as they try to develop new technologies.

One of the features of flies that surprises scientists most is the way they use a neural network of a very limited number of neurons to perform so many complex movements. Biologist Michael Dickinson expresses his astonishment as to how a neural system of such small scale can accomplish all of these features.

Do not ever kill a fly!

Flies consume plenty of energy during flight. A regular supply of oxygen is needed to compensate for the energy they use. Air is inhaled via a constriction of the abdominal muscles when the fly lands on a surface. However, during the flight, air enters via the serial movements of the wings. Air that enters through the openings of the chitin layer surrounding the fly is transported to cells via small channels.

Flies locate their food via their smell receptors. Thus, a fly in the air easily lands on the food source that it detects. The taste organ detects whether the food is an ideal source or not. Usually, their choices of food are human foods, waste remains, and dirt. There are two tubes located in the mouth of the house fly. It sucks liquid food with one of the tubes; saliva containing enzymes is secreted on the food source with the other hose so that digestion is facilitated. A fly secretes plenty of saliva in order to liquefy the solid foods it prefers.

Flies that use dirt and waste as a nutritional source are considered as disease contracting pests. However, this is a major fallacy. Flies are actually the health officers of the ecosystem. They turn microorganisms ineffective as they take in their food; the digestive enzymes that they carry play role in completing this important task. Due to this important task, it should be remembered that killing a fly is very unfortunate. Great scholar, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, notes that flies are assigned to terminate unhealthy microorganisms and materials.

Scientists led by Prof. Andy Beattie have noticed that flies are resistant to all kinds of dirt, including from meat and manure. He said that these organisms should be super resistant to infections, otherwise they could not survive and that our work to gain antibiotics from them has been partially successful. In fact, studies focused on obtaining antibiotics from flies started in the past century. English and Swedish scientists isolated certain antibiotics from flies in 1930 and 1947. Efforts to isolate antibiotics from flies continue today.

Reproduction in black flies!

Black flies reproduce quickly. In suitable humidity and temperature, eggs start to hatch in just 10 hours. Larvae feed on liquid materials, though they need bacteria living on solid food to convert it into liquid form. Therefore, an acid is secreted inside the digestive track of the fly that can terminate most of the bacteria. Thus, the insect becomes free of bacteria, ready to fly. One fly can lay more than 100 eggs at one time and between 600 and 1000 in their lifetime. They can lay eggs again after just three days.

When looking at the information we have, it’s clear that flies are acrobatic flight masters with mind blowing features. We should abandon the negativity towards flies and contemplate the perfection of creation by considering their many remarkable skills – and working to discover even more secrets about them.

The miracle of life appears in the form of a baby which develops from a fertilized ovule (zygote) following millions of other events. This series of events, which is almost always the same for every fetus, can be grouped as reproduction, differentiation, and development. The zygote completes its development in the womb; postnatal growth can continue until 20 years of age. Even though every event during the baby’s development seems to take place with chaotic reactions, harmony and order are there for us to discover. One of these astonishing events is the perfectly symmetric growth of the fetus/baby. Most organs in the human body appear in pairs and are symmetric. Babies are born with 300 bones; however, some bones later fuse with other bones, leaving only 208 bones in the adult human. It is still a mystery how long bones such as the humerus, radius, ulna, femur, and tibia are able to grow on both sides of the human body in a symmetrical manner.

Mechanisms that control growth in organs

In vertebrates, both internal developmental programs and the external factors which stimulate or inhibit growth play a role in the ultimate size of an organ. But the relative effects of these two mechanisms can vary significantly in different organs. When pieces of spleen from an embryo that is at a later stage of growth are transplanted to a newly developing embryo, each new piece grows, but not to the size of the original spleen. The total weight of all the transplanted spleen pieces is equal to a normal spleen’s weight. When the spleen reaches a certain weight, growth inhibiting factors are secreted, which stimulate negative feedback mechanisms that limit growth. When a spleen reaches a certain size, the density of the inhibiting factors increases simultaneously, halting growth. Growth in the liver is controlled by extracellular factors (various substances in the blood, hormones, vitamins, minerals, etc.). When a section is cut off of the liver, the section continues growing and developing until it reaches the size of the original liver. The thymus has a growth process that is executed by a cellular genetic program. When sections of a thymus taken from the embryonic period are injected into developing mouse embryos, every section grows until it reaches the ultimate size.

More evidence of cellular growth programs was acquired via an experiment that was carried out with the salamander genus Ambystoma. When the leg bud of the larger species was injected into the smaller species, it would at first grow slowly, but then it would reach the normal size of its own species (the larger species).

Distinguishing growth and symmetry from one another

Both the arms and legs have long bones. A long bone consists of two parts (diaphysis and epiphysis). The diaphysis is the middle (core) part of the long bone. It consists of hard bone tissue, and is like a tube. The hyaline cartilage-covered joint forms the epiphysis of the long bone. In a growing bone, there is a growth plate (epiphysis plaque) made of hyaline cartilage; this is located between the diaphysis and the epiphysis. The epiphysis plaque causes the bone to grow longer; when growth is complete, the epiphysis plaque ossifies (becomes bone). In other words, growth stops. There are some clues that show the existence of positive feedback mechanisms which control the symmetric and balanced development of the arms and legs while the fetus is still growing. The arms and legs grow due to the development and growth of the plaques located at opposite ends of the long bone. The ultimate size of the arms and legs are proportional to the size of the finger bones (phalanx) and the metacarpus. According to current knowledge, growth in our arms and legs is only controlled by internal growth programs and the active growth of the plaques. We do not yet know the mechanism through which how much the bone must grow and symmetrically with the organ (the other arm or leg) on the other side of the body. But even if this is discovered in the future, we will continue to appreciate the perfect and miraculous aspect of this phenomenon.

In addition, in growth-plaque transplant experiments, the development of the transplanted growth plaque is dependent only on the age and size of the donor. Growth plaques cause the bone to grow, but the plaques themselves remain the same size for years. The cartilage cells they produce (chondrocytes) exchange places with the bone cells (osteocytes) in harmony and without destroying the length of the bone. Cells from different areas of the growth plaque act differently. Stem cells are found on the upper section, near the epiphysis. Immediately above them is an area where cells reproduce very quickly. At the bottom of the epiphysis, the cartilage cells grow up to 4 to 10 times larger than their normal size (hypertrophy). Cell reproduction here is mostly due to hypertrophic chondrocytes. The chondrocytes die and break up, then change places with the bone tissue. The dynamic process of these events in the growth plaque repels it from the bone area, and as a result, the bone grows longer.

Sustained symmetry despite cell sequence and speed of reproduction

The rapid growth rate in the legs and arms during the embryonic period continues to increase until the child is three years of age. This growth rate slows down until the individual reaches adolescence. During the fastest growth period, which is from adolescence to the early 20s, the growth rate rapidly increases. For example, most people who grow between 30 and 37.5 cm during the first two years of life can grow between another 7.5 and 10 cm every year during adolescence. At the onset of adolescence, rapid growth due to a sudden change in the volume of cells is observed. After adolescence a sudden falling off in the speed of growth can be observed due to the effect of hormones on the growth plaques in the spine and other long bones. The growth plaque now fuses with the neighboring cells and growth stops. However, the fusing of the growth plaque is the result of the cessation of growth, not the cause. After growth stops, the growth plaques begin to disappear. When the reproduction potential of the cartilage cells in the growth plaque has been exhausted, the growth plaque begins to disappear.

Growth plaques in different bones can trigger growth at various rates; these rates can differ as much as seven times. In fact, growth plaques on different ends of a bone can have different growth rates, provided that this rate is consistent with the genetic program. The number of cells on the growth line is 40 times more than in other areas. The number of cells produced here can exceed 10,000 cells per day. For symmetric growth between the arms and legs to be sustained, the number of cells in the growth plaque must be the same or very close. Experiments carried out on rats show that eight cartilage cells leave the growth plaque to exchange places with cells above them every day. It can be said that the growth of the bone is caused by the increase of cells in the growth plaque (which sustains its size). The growth rate caused by the growth plaque can be calculated by multiplying the growth plaque’s cell production rate by the average length of all of its cells. Different growth plaques provide different growth rates. This difference can be caused by the difference in the size of the growth plaques, the difference in cell production rates, and/or the difference in the hypertrophy (growth) rate of every cell. The upper growth plaque in the tibia of mice generates 16,400 cells every day; the average life span of these cells is around 30 hours. Can such harmonious, symmetric, and equivalent growth in the arms and legs-despite the large number and variety of cells-be the work of pure coincidence, mindless nature, or unconscious molecules?

Do hormones play a role?

The main molecular players that organize longitudinal growth in bones during childhood are the growth hormone, the thyroid hormone, and corticoids. The sex hormones (androgens and estrogens) are programmed to influence growth during adolescence. Estrogen is the main determiner of characteristics related to increased height and an increase in bone quality, as well as adolescent-related physiology. These hormones are in charge of coordinating growth throughout the body. It is for this reason for women, after the menopause, the production in estrogen decreases and osteoporosis and brittle bones can occur. According to the current view, cartilage cells have a certain genetic reproduction potential, and when this potential finishes, growth stops. The growth rate during the embryonic period is 20 times higher than that of mid-childhood. The growth rate drops greatly during mid-childhood. If we exclude the noticeable increase during adolescence, the cells responsible for growth have begun to age. The bones on opposite sides of the body stay about the same size, despite all of these changes in growth rates. Circulating hormones and neuroendocrinal factors are believed to play important roles in maintaining symmetric growth. But there is no conclusive evidence to support this belief. Even though one can think of factors such as pressure, tension, and sports as helping control harmonious and symmetric growth of bones, no proof has been attained from controlled experiments. As a person ages, a gradual decrease in growth can be observed. Even if a growth plaque is placed into another organism, be it young or old, the growth rate of the bone does not change. This shows that symmetric growth in long bones is controlled by a program that is operated by internal factors, which is also compatible with the genetic program. When chemical-based medication is given to postpone growth, after the medication has been eliminated, the growth plaques grow faster for a short period to compensate for the lost time. These findings show that timing and the location and circumstances of the cell are critical parameters for reproduction. If the cartilage stem cells in the growth plaque have a certain reproduction potential, then it is clear that cartilage cell reproduction stops when growth comes to an end. If growth inhibiting factors slowly accumulate in the growth plaque, this might cause a deceleration of growth over time. Another possibility is some sort of “meter” in the unconscious and mindless stem cells, which keeps track of the number of cell divisions and thus controls aging. The estrogen in our body has a duty of closing down the growth plaques and speeding up the aging of cells. However, we should not forget that estrogen plays the special role of closing down all of the growth plaques at the same time. Estrogen is one of the visible causes of fertility, growth and development, and resilience. Estrogen also represents femininity and fertility at all levels.

When the signals from unconscious cells in the growth plaques and the quite sophisticated interactions among all the factors that influence growth, all of which require an all-encompassing knowledge to be executed, are taken into account, the impeccable genetic programs of different growth plaques on the two sides of the body that leads to the formation of the arms and legs, as if they have been molded in a factory, is absolutely amazing for anyone who reflects upon it.

References

• Wolpert L. (2010).”Unsolved Mystery: Arms and the Man: The Problem of Symmetric Growth.” PLoS Biology. 2010 Vol. 8(9). pp 1-3
• Extremity Development during the Embryonic Period (www.visembryo.com)

We vessels can be divided into three main groups in terms of structure and function. The ones with thicker walls, which bring every organ the blood they need from the heart, are the arteries. The pressure inside us is higher and we easily carry blood to the organs. The ones with thinner walls, lower pressure, and larger inner space are called veins. As a matter of fact, both arteries and veins have a three-layered structure that is very suitable for holding a fluid like blood. Since our walls are strengthened with both connective tissue and smooth muscle layers, we bear the pressure coming from the heart and help blood proceed by contracting and relaxing. Since arteries are directly subjected to the strong pressure from the heart, our walls were created in a thicker and stronger form. Since the veins return blood to the heart and thus have lower pressure, we have valves that close after blood passes, so it does not flow backward due to gravity. This is a serious challenge for the blood passing through your legs. Varicose veins might develop due to weight gain from pregnancy or obesity, which increases pressure on the legs, or to hours of standing, walking, or running on hard surfaces.

Capillaries are the most delicate blood vessels, with walls made of a single layer of epithelium, which enables us to exchange substances between blood and tissues. As blood vessels, our total length is about 120,000 kilometers. Try to imagine if a fisherman’s net were made from a rope of this length and how wide it would be! And yet, such a vast network of blood vessels is located in your body, and capillaries take blood to every part, without neglecting an area as tiny as the head of a pin.

The well-being of your organs is directly related to us. If our interiors begin to narrow, because of fatty cholesterol plaque for instance, then we begin to lose our flexibility. This means malnutrition for that organ, since a lesser amount of blood than expected can come. If a blood clot sticks to our wall and blocks the blood flow, the relevant organ may be in terrible trouble. If other arteries supply blood to that organ, then it can handle this, but if a main artery is blocked and if secondary channels do not exist or are insufficient, you experience infarction. Taking this into consideration, you need to be careful what you eat and lead a physically active life. When you get old, if sufficient blood does not pass through us in your brain, failures with brain activities appear and you go senile. As the walls of veins and arteries have a rich network of nerves, we let the suitable amount of blood flow according to the need of the organ we’re serving, under the control of the autonomous nervous system. While blood vessels that are connected to an organ not currently requiring much blood contract to reduce the amount supplied, those that are connected to currently more active organs expand. And dear Peter, the greatest blessing here is that none of these activities require any conscious effort from you; everything works smoothly without your even being aware.

This wonderful network of ours finds its value in the vital fluid we carry. If it weren’t for blood, we would have no value at all, and such a perfect means of distribution would be unnecessary. Even the duty of the heart is to make this fluid circulate throughout the body. Now, let us step aside and allow blood to have the floor.

Many important characteristics exist in seeds. Seeds are equipped with all the necessary information about the branches and leaves of the plant which they will become, as well as the number and shape of these leaves. Within the seed is programmed the color, fineness or thickness of the bark, the number and width of the tubes that carry food and water, whether the plant will bear fruit or not, and if it bears fruit, the taste, smell, shape and color of this fruit. Even information about how the plant will react to a negative condition in the environment during normal development is registered in this program. For example, a plant that would normally develop under ideal climatic conditions is programmed to produce seeds in a short term to protect reproduction under unsuitable conditions like drought and great heat. God is He Who splits the seed-grain and the fruit-stone (so that they germinate by His command). He brings forth the living from the dead, and He is One Who brings forth the dead from the living; such is God: how then are you turned away from the truth and make false claims? (An’am 6:95)

If we consider the growth process of the plant from a seed that is equipped with perfect information, we can see that once the appropriate conditions have been created the seed first germinates and then the body and leaves are formed on this stem. When the time is right, flowers form in keeping with the divine order. The flowers that later form the fruit and seeds for further plants are either brought together with their own pollen (cleistogamy or self-pollenization) or with other pollen from another plant of the same type (cross-pollination) in a perfectly organized system. Self-pollenization occurs either before the flower opens or after the pollen has developed. Because the pistil and stamens of some plants are hidden by some other parts of the plant, it is difficult for the pollen to reach here, so the plant obeys what is ordered and self-pollinates.

In cross-pollination, plants use the pollen from another plant of their own species. Pollen transportation occurs with the help of the wind, rain or insects that visit flowers.

The flowers of many plants that are pollinated by the wind and rain are very modest in appearance, but they have been created in a way to produce pollen in abundance. Although most of the pollen that is carried away by the wind and rain are destroyed, this lost pollen organically enriches the soil and at least some of this pollen will find a flower to pollinate. Our Lord has bestowed those flowers that are pollinated by insects with various colors and shapes to attract these visitors. During pollination, the pollen of flowers that have less pollen than the self-pollinating flowers are carried by bees and other insects, whose legs, wings, and antennae have been created specifically for this task, as they have been inspired (Nahl 16:68–69). Nectar and pollen are the reward for these insects which provide pollination.

Bees are the most important group among the insects that carry out the task of pollination. When bees are mentioned, most people think of the honeybee, but bumblebees also serve mankind. In addition to the products they offer to us, bees are indispensable for their contributions to plant reproduction.

Bees store the nectar they have sucked from the flowers in a “honey stomach” and then empty this nectar into a honeycomb as honey. The bees legs, granted to them by the Creator, allows them in their duty of collecting pollen. The back legs of the bees are different from that of all other insects. The long hairs that are aligned on these stocky legs act almost like a basket to collect the pollen.

Of the 82 plant types that meet 90% of the human food needs around the world, 63 (77%) are pollinated by bees; without bees it would be impossible for these plants to produce seed. Bees are absolutely necessary for the formation of seeds in plants that we eat, like apples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, melons, watermelons or pumpkins, or indeed in those used in industry, like sunflowers, safflowers, rapeseed, cotton, or sugar beets, or those used for feeding livestock, like clover, sainfoin, red clover, or vetch. This task carried out by bee pollination every year throughout the world is much more important than the production of honey. Moreover, bees make life possible for animals from thousands of species who use these plants as food or shelter. We should not forget the connection Einstein drew between the disappearance of the bees from the ecosystem and Doomsday.

Another vital mission entrusted to bees is the prevention of erosion. Plants that need the pollination of bees, like members of the Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Brassicaceae, Campanulaceae, Compositae and Fabaceae families, are widespread in areas were there are serious threats of erosion. Similarly, feed crops, which are very important in feeding livestock and preserving the ecological balance, also need insects for pollination. In plants like clover, the upper side of the flower organs is covered by a membrane; in these plants, bees break this membrane to get at the pollen; if it were not for bees, the pollen would remain trapped.

It is by Divine guidance that bees take nectar and pollen from the same type of plants all day. Even if there are other plants which contain more nectar and pollen, bees only stop at the type of flower that it first visited. The fact that bees collect nectar and pollen from the same type of plants all day long shows that this is not something they do randomly.

Like many other living things in the universe bees are in service to mankind, operating under the rules set by the Lord of the Worlds. However, activities that are carried out without investigating the meaning of the universe and the wisdom behind the creation of the living things, such as unplanned industrialization, which in turn has lead to an increase in air pollution, or the careless use of chemical materials, are the reason for a decrease in the population of bees, day by day. Never mind the wars and fires started by mankind, any venture that may cause the bees to disappear could lead to the destruction of mankind; if the bees become extinct, mankind will face many disasters, like erosion, desertification and the extinction of plants which are food for us and for the animals we raise.

Many of you are frightened of us. You have even invented a disease called “Arachnophobia” (fear of spider). On the contrary, I do not inflict any harm on you, but rather help tidy up nature by catching harmful insects in my web. Particularly, when I remember the honorable task one of my ancestors took part in, my eyes get misty with emotion: In order to save the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Pride of the Universe and Humanity, from his enemies, our Lord commanded one of our ancestors to quickly make a web over the entrance of the cave they were hiding in, and this made the infidels stop searching for him there. This honor is enough for us until the Day of Judgment. And please, at least, remember this historical event and stop killing us wherever you see us.

Many of you mistake us for insects. We, the spiders, are different from the insects. The easiest way to differentiate us is to count the number of legs and the parts of our bodies. Insects have six legs, whereas we have eight; their bodies are made of three main parts, while our bodies consist of two parts, one being the head. Moreover, we are different with respect to the sizes and numbers of our eyes. The insects usually have two large compound eyes, whereas we have eight small simple eyes (the simplicity here does not mean ordinary, or lacking in art, it means uncomplicated, plain!).

Those who-in order to reject our Lord-seek a way out through the dead ends of the theory of evolution are stunned when they see the delicate embroidery art in my body and the trap strategy in my magnificent webs. Since they know that we do not have intelligence or conscience, they, helplessly, take refuge in a term called instinct. You can resemble these thinkers to the flies that fall into my trap; the more they struggle through reasoning, basing their theories on nature, or causality, or coincidence, the more entangled they become. In order to deny God, they give credit to some imaginative alternatives for the artwork that has been bestowed upon spiders and thus deceive themselves.

We can live in all continents, except Antarctica, and can survive in many climatic conditions, from deserts to rainforests. The reason that we are more common on oceanic islands than on continents is the special threads we use in our nets. We can use this thread like a parachute and can travel on the wind to far away lands.

One of our most important attributes, the merit of which is so valuable that it is mentioned in the Qur’an, is our silk thread gland that produces thread in various qualities. We use this silk-like substance, which is discharged from conical nipples on our abdomen, for numerous purposes. Most of us are granted with at least two kinds of silk glands, with different structures and secretions. And we are given the knowledge to use these threads for different tasks appropriate to their chemical composition. Since the flexibility, durability, thickness and adhesiveness of each type of thread is different, we use the right type for each task. We use some types of thread to build a web to trap prey, others for furnishing inside our homes, and still others to protect our egg or sperm sacks.

Although everyone knows about our thread, the bio-chemical process that takes place during its production is yet to be completely understood. Our thread, despite being thinner than one thousandth of a millimeter, is five times stronger than a steel string of the same thickness. And it can be stretched up to four times its length. Moreover, it is so light that, despite the great length required to go around the world, such a thread would only weigh 320 grams. My web occupies a large space in comparison to my size; but this appearance is deceptive. My real home is a small spot in the middle; the rest is a trap set up for flies. Now, despite being such a wonderful material, the Holy Qur’an, in the chapter named after me, states that “ The parable of those who take to them other than God for guardians is like a spider: it has made for itself a house, and surely the frailest of houses is the spider’s house. If they only knew this!” (Ankabut 29:41). Have you ever wonder about the inner meaning of this verse? If you have, you can see that it describes my house as being feeble and flimsy, but not the thread that made the house. That means, no matter how excellent is the material you have, if you do not use it in the right place, it is useless. My thread and my house that I build are adequate for me, working as traps for my prey. You might waste the highest quality materials if you use them to construct a building with poor foundations. That is to say, if a human being, equipped with the most wonderful qualities, chooses an invalid fallacious god for themselves, they waste the equipment bestowed upon them, such as intelligence, comprehension and conscience. What is worse, when they adopt a deity other than God, whatever they accomplish in terms of excellent scientific studies, discoveries, or inventions will all be wasted. The arguments of those who deny God might seem sound, but in reality they are fallacies, causing those who are not using their innate capabilities to fall into their traps. Of course, a miraculous book like the Qur’an can be read and understood from the perspectives of other sciences and thus can be understood in a variety of ways. Mine is just one. …

The production of my silk, which is stronger than either synthetic or natural fiber, is similar in part to the production process carried out in factories that manufacture thread. The protein called keratin that I use in silk production is a very common substance, found in human fingernails and hair, as well as in bird feathers, in horn, and in the scales of snakes. Even though the same amino acid is used by these creatures, our Lord, the Creator of all, has the knowledge and the omnipotence to turn the same protein found in your fingernail into silk in my glands.

The liquid silk material, discharged like a protein soup, passes through the ducts of a gland where the liquid is absorbed very rapidly and is then turned into acid by other cells via hydrogen atoms before being spurted out as silk. Once the densified proteins enter the acid pool they form links with one another and turn into thread. The bio-chemical reactions that take place in this process, which I have only explained very basically, vary, depending on the types of thread produced in the different glands; by using different processes different types of thread are produced.

My Lord, Whose mercy is endless, Who gave me all the things that I need to survive down to the smallest detail, has granted me six different manufacturing chambers. In each chamber the chemical substances, prepared as different formulas, are mixed in different proportions to suit my needs; in addition, the caliber of the orifices from which they are spurted and the pressure of the pumps are adjusted to the most appropriate levels to produce thread with different characteristics. Neither my knowledge, nor my ability is enough to comprehend the settings in the silk producing nipples located in my stomach. Nevertheless, the threads that I use for hunting are sticky, while others, by which I return to my home with my prey, are stronger and more flexible. Moreover, the other kinds of thread which I use to wrap my prey are straight and have the quality of becoming harder when movement occurs, while the other threads that I use for my egg sacks have an antibiotic to protect against germs, the ones that I use to go up and down are slippery, and finally the ones I use to lay the foundation of my house are thicker while the ones that I place within the nest are thinner. With graceful leg motions I bring all these threads to the right place and secure them there. I straighten some thread with a comb in my foot. The threads are coated with a liquid substance that protects against fractions in case of exposure to pressure.

A creature that is as small and helpless as I am would need to understand the order of the protein atom used, as well as the properties of pressure in order to protect against fractions, and comprehend the structure of the coating material and many other physio-chemical principles in order to produce these threads that have such excellent qualities. Since that is not the case (I do not have any such knowledge) and as the creation cannot be explained via some unconscious terms such as evolution, mutation, or natural selection, my Creator, the creator of all that I do, is Allah. Plastic surgeons have just started to use some types of spider threads in delicate operations on tendons and joints.

Although I do not have any architectural or engineering training that would help me to calculate where I have to secure my threads or to understand the angles between them, with Divine Guidance I am able to perform these tasks properly. Since I live mostly on insects, I am a very useful animal for you; by catching and destroying many insects I play an important role in the ecological balance. Otherwise, these insects would be overwhelming, not to mention the harm they cause to crops. In addition to this there are some interesting species of ours, which live on fish or even bird.

There are approximately thirty-five thousand species of spiders; of this only five hundred can be considered to be dangerous to humans. Even though all of us have poison glands, if we bite a human in general this only causes an itch. We do not deliberately come and bite humans. Even the most poisonous of us all, the black widow (Latrodectus mactans) is rarely fatal for human beings. This species, which builds a large web with a conical center, can hide around 250-750 eggs, wrapping them up with a silk cover. The females are three centimeters in size, while the males are only about one-fourth the size of the females. Once the females receive the sperm, they eat their males instantly before they can escape. Unlike many of us, the Tarantula (Lycosa tarentula), a spider that measures 2.5 centimeters and which belongs to the wolf spider family that is found in Europe, does not make webs; rather they catch their prey by chasing. They have strong venom as well, but contrary to the common exaggeration, this venom is not fatal. There is another species of tarantula in South America, but this spider belongs to a totally different family, the Theraphosa. The size of the main body of this spider is about 9-10 centimeters, and the distance between the legs is 25-30 centimeters. This large and hairy kind of spider is active at night. Some of them live in holes they have dug in the ground, while others build nests on trees. Even though they can be classified as harmless, their bites hurt. They kill small frogs, lizards, and even birds.

Most spiders live alone. A few of us make houses next to each other, and hunt together. Our hunting techniques are various. The Bolas spider (Cladomelea longipes) has incredible techniques for preparing and throwing bolas. Even though their sense of sight is poor, this species can feel the vibration of flying pigeons and they diffuse a special odor to attract their prey; once the prey has come close, the spider catches it with a sudden attack, paralyzing it with its poisonous bite and then wrapping it in special silk. This special silk has a quality that allows it to keep the wrapped prey fresh; thus, the food, which cannot be consumed in one meal, can be safely stored.

Species that live in the desert dig tunnels in the sand to protect themselves from the dreadful heat, and discharge a special excretion to stick the sand together. They also insulate the interior of the tunnel with silk threads to protect themselves from the heat outside. They make a special silk lid to the entrance of the tunnel and camouflage it with some sand. Then, by stretching their thin thread between some rocks and sticks nearby, they wait for their food. Since the daytime is so hot, they prey at night, waiting for insects to vibrate the threads they have placed.

There are other species, for example, the water spiders (Argyroneta aquatica). This species lives in the water and makes their nests in an air bubble on the water, from time to time traveling up to the surface and restocking the air under their stomach to pump it into their home underwater. Another species, called Dolomedes fimbriatus has legs that enables them to walk on the water and to live on fish. As it is the case with all kinds of Arthropoda (exoskeletal animals), we need to change our skins when we grow. Once the outer skeleton, made of ketone becomes hard, it impedes our growth. Because of that, from time to time, we shed this skin, and grow rapidly while our new skin is soft. Moreover, the legs, which are cut off due to various reasons, are renewed with the grace of God.

I could tell a lot more about my friends, but I think this is enough. I hope that from now on no one will attribute our artful of creation and behavior to evolution or coincidence. In fact, I do not expect such a thing from human beings, who have intelligence, conscience, and comprehension.

A few hours ago I was in another, more suffocating place, together with sixty or so sisters of mine, sisters-to-be. We all set out on a journey. Passing through a corridor to which doors are opened from hundreds of cells such as those we had just left and into which eggs like me were rolling, we reached a crossroads. At just that point, something very agile and smaller even than me entered into me. A little later I found myself within the six walls of a cell.

If you could become so small as a particle of air, you would be astonished at what you see. Molecules compete in me: they combine and separate from one another, take on new forms, curve and move here and there. In short, I am being prepared for a new life; whatever will be necessary for this life is encoded in me. I have begun to be equipped with such information as would take you many years to acquire.

Day 4 – I am no longer an egg, and not yet a honeybee. I have left my shell, and now look like a worm. I am called a larva. You will be amazed to learn that I have completed the age of my education. While you are first born and then learn, we first learn and then are born. All the information I will use during my life has been encoded in the brain within my head. Now I am busy eating to grow so as to make use of this information. All the food I need reaches me continually as if pouring down from the sky.

Day 5 – I had 1300 meals yesterday. I am constantly eating. I must eat another 10.000 meals. I eat a sort of jelly extremely rich in vitamins and proteins and prepared by our elder sisters. Although it is the prerogative of the queen bee to eat this jelly, it is given also to us in this period of our growth. I have grown five times heavier than yesterday. My head is more visible, and the three sections of my future body. My antennae are about to appear, but my legs have not yet begun to do so. There are ten air- holes around my body through which I breathe. My stomach is still in the form of a closed sac.

Day 6 – It was a little cool last night. All the bees in the hive crowded onto the comb and throbbed to produce heat. We need a temperature of about 35 C if we are to grow. As well as feeding us, it is again our elder sisters who ensure we are warm enough. When it is cool, they throb to warm us; when it is too hot, they cool us by beating their wings.

Day 7 – Our menu has changed today. In place of the jelly-liked food, we are given a food prepared with honey and pollen. I have grown so fat that I nearly cover more than half of my cell.

Day 9 – They have stopped giving us food. They have covered the ceiling of my cell with wax. However, I do not feel forsaken in the cell. I feel there is someone who is caring for all my needs. It is as if He whispered to me that it is He Who always feeds me and that I simply do not need feeding for a certain time.

Day 10- It is as if the One Who whispered to me yesterday, whispered again that He has installed silk ‘machines’ in my head and that I should set them to operate. My secretion glands get to work and thin threads of silk come out of my mouth. I knit a silk cocoon around me. This is the first thing I have done since the beginning of my life. I am not called a larva any more, but a pupa.

Day 15 – (your May 20) – Over the last week I have grown to look more like a bee. My eyes and antennae have started to appear. My head has grown. The first section of my abdomen has been added to my chest. My wings and three pairs of legs continue to grow out from my body.

Day 20 – I am a perfectly- formed honeybee. I have a head with antennae, eyes, a tongue, jaws, and legs, wings and a sting. I am a female bee; my brain is bigger than that of either the queen bee or the male bees. My legs and wings are fixed to my body and made up of many muscles. My abdomen has been arranged in a way to do the tasks of both digestion and secretion.

Day 21 – I was ordered to leave my cell. I opened the seal with my jaws and went out. I am looking at my environment. My home that I see for the first time is not strange to me. I do know what I am to do but I need some time to adjust my body to my tasks.

I see some other bees also leaving their cells. They must be my sisters that started the journey of their lives at the same time as I did. Cells are opened and as the new bees clamber out, the comb resembles a place of gathering.

My legs work but as yet my four wings do not. I stand on my feet with claws which have sticking organs. I keep my balance by means of the hairs on my body which inform my brain of the position of the parts of my body according to the gravitation.

The lower parts of my front legs will serve as a brush to remove from my eyes the dust which will stick to them as I fly around flowers. On the same front legs I also have other stick-like brushes to clean my antennae. I have instruments on my middle legs to collect the wax I will secrete from my body. There are sacs on my back legs to store the pollen that I am to collect.

I look at my sisters and see on the upper part of their heads three tiny eyes and two larger ones on their sides. The tiny eyes see polarized light, while the larger ones are sensitive to ultraviolet rays. We bees cannot see red. We cannot see the environment crisply delineated, we see it as a dim design of colours. We see most distinctly at the distance of touching.

Whatever I will need has all been installed in my body. I have a tongue to suck water and nectar, and antenae to touch and smell and a sting to defend myself. In addition, I have an environment to live in comfortably. All this cannot have been arranged by the things themselves around me. I did not arrange it myself. So, there must be One Who knows both me, my needs and my environment and Who brings me into existence for the tasks I am to do. He must have infinite knowledge and power.

I am starting to work today. We work according to a strict division of labour. What falls on me today is to do cleaning. Our comb is perfectly clean and tidy.

Day 22 – I have continued to do cleaning. I know my hive and sisters better than before. We have a very crowded population, we are about 40.000 bees. About 1500 new sisters have joined us today.

We can measure the length of days and know the coming of summer. Summer is coming.

Day 23 – Today I have been promoted to nurse. I am looking after larvae of 4-6 days. I partly digest in my stomach some of the food brought to me by elder bees and make bread of honey to feed the larvae.

Day 24 – A new factory has started to work in my body today. I have just begun using a secretion gland in my throat.

Thousands of elder bees offer us the pollen they collect and honey they make and we thousands of younger bees, crowd around cells and feed the larvae. A perfect mutual helping prevails in our comb.

Day 26 – I am extremely busy. I make royal jelly using the gland I began working two days ago and offer it to the larvae which eat 1300 meals a day. As you remember, I was also fed this when I was a larva.

Day 29 – (your June 3) – The larvae I am feeding today are of a different kind. They are in cells a little bigger than ours. It will take 26 days for them to leave their cells as male bees.

Day 30 – I have been promoted to cook. I make honey from the nectar my elders collect from flowers and store it in cells.

The honey I make is composed of water, sucrose and glucose and is very rich in vitamins. It contains enzymes to digest carbo-hydrates. It is very delicious and healthful. Some part of the honey I make may come to your table one day. I will have died by the time you are eating it. You have no obligation at all to remember me, but do not forget the One Who provides you with it through me and thank Him.

Day 32 – Thousands of bees die in our comb every day and other thousands are born. This happens in so orderly a way that no confusion is seen.

There is one among us without whom it is impossible for things to be in order in our comb-the queen. She is a bit larger than us and was programmed to do things different from what we do. She cannot collect nectar nor make honey, nor feed the larvae. She cannot feed herself either. We, her daughters, feed her with the royal jelly we offer to the young larvae.

The queen bee lays eggs. She must lay around 2000 eggs every day, for our lifespan is very short. While we are feeding her, she lets us taste from a substance she produces. We go round the comb and so cause all female bees to taste that substance by which a kind of birthcontrol is secured in the comb. On the day we do not taste it, we all begin to lay eggs. Since those eggs are not fertilized, only male bees come from them. Male bees have no task other than inseminating the queen bee. Their number is quite limited. If they were to be too many, the order in our comb would collapse.

Day 35 – A new factory has started to work in my body today. This factory installed in the back, lower part of my abdomen produces wax. I collect that wax with the sticks on my middle legs and chew it to mould it into the cells of the comb.

The cells we make are hexagonal in shape, because, compared with the amount of the wax used to build them, as much honey as possible can be stored in them. Also, a hexagonal form is most resistant to external forces. We make 35 thousand cells from half a kilo of wax and store 10 kilos of honey in them. We need three and a half kilos of honey to make half a kilo of wax.

We make cells in different forms according to need. While making them, we take gravitation into account. For example, the cells where the female worker bees lie horizontally form a vertical layer, while the cells where future queen bees lie vertically are parallel to the earth surface. The cells where male bees grow are bigger than those of the females. As you certainly understand, it is impossible for us and for any other things in nature, including what some of you call natural forces, to know and arrange all these things. There must be One Who does it. One Who knows us together with our relation with our environment and employs us in many important tasks.

Day 37 – (your June 11)- So far, I have left my comb on many occasions but only to throw out the waste matter and had opportunities to see the outer world from afar. Today I left my comb but not to discard waste but to fly around the comb, to obtain knowledge of the outer world.

Flying is very tiring for us. Unlike birds, we do not flap wings. When we start to fly, our wings move automatically in a way to make 250 complete turns in a second. While flying, our front and back wings are bound to each other.

When we start to fly, our wings curve along certain lines in a way to adjust our body to the air current. They draw a figure-of-8 shape in the air. In proportion to the size of our wings, our bodies are heavy (unlike birds which fly). They grow heavier when we collect nectar from flowers. Despite this, we can fly 15 kilometres an hour.

Like our flying, our landing is also miraculous. Unlike birds and your planes, we do not need to decrease our speed before we land. Thanks to the tips of our legs, while flying in the air, we can immediate- my alight wherever we want.

Since our wings move at extremely high speed, our need for fuel is high. Our muscles have a metabolic rate ten times faster than the heart of a man. We consume sugar as fuel. Before we start a journey, we take enough ‘fuel’. However, if the amount of sugar in our blood reduces to 1 per cent, we obtain new food wherever we are.

Day 38 – My new task is keeping guard at the entrance of the comb. No one, not even other bees, are allowed to tenter our comb. We know one another by our smell. The smell of each community of honeybees is different. Our antennae distinguish between the smells very well. The entrance of our comb is also marked with the smell particular to our community. Any other creature which does not carry our semll is prevented from entering.

Day 39 – There have been some changes in the comb. The cells of about a dozen larvae have been made bigger and turned vertical. The larvae in them will be fed with royal jelly until they become pupae.

The queen bee has accelerated laying eggs. She lays about 2000 eggs a day.

Day 41 – Now I am a fully mature honeybee. I will no longer do the housework because the factories in my body producing royal jelly and wax have stopped. From now, I will spend my days collecting nectar from flowers.

Today it was my first flight outside. When I flew far away from the comb, I found myself surrounded by a design of colours. The scents coming from all around nearly caused me to faint. Flowers attract us by their colours and smells. They have structures arranged as if to serve as platforms for our landing. When we land on them, we pass our tongues into the source of nectar in their centres. Meanwhile pollen from the flowers clings to the hairs on our bodies giving them the look of prickly sticks. We leave some of this pollen on other flowers we visit and thereby assist i the pollination of flowers. But for this service we perform, you would not enjoy the benefit from fruit-bearing trees such as peach, apple, pear, almond and plum.

We do not visit flowers at random. Whatever kind of flowers we visit first, we continue to visit the same kind in the same environment. If we did otherwise we would be carrying pollen of other kinds of flowers and therefore waste the pollen, uselessly.

We are mostly attracted by blue. However, we also visit flowers of other colours except red. Red flowers do business with butterflies.

We do not see flowers in the same colour as you see them. Only the nectar containing central parts of the flowers you see as yellow appear to us as yellow to attract us to you see as white appear to us as coloured. In short, when we go on a journey to collect nectar, we do not look for them. Flowers themselves smile to us and attract us.

Day 42 – I have spent today also among flowers. If you had followed, you would have seen that I visited around twenty flowers in a minute and as many as 20,000 by evening. I stored the nectar in my stomach and the pollen in the sacs on my back legs.

Since our return is difficult because of our load, we follow a direct way called the line of bees. Even if we pass through places unknown to us, we always follow that direct way. It is extremely easy for us to establish it. The place and position of the sun gives us our direction, Of course, the sun has changed position while we are visiting flowers. That is no matter at all. You cannot compete with us when it comes to calculating the exact place and position of the sun at any time of the day. If you kept me in a dark place and then released me hours later, it would not take me more than a few moments to find my direction. We use the atmospheric polarization and find the place of the sun by means of any little light coming from any corner of the sky. We have been doing this calculation for millions of years but you have come to know it only in the last forty years.

We cannot make our way only on completely dark days and therefore we do not go out on those days. We stay in and are busy with the work in the comb.

Day 44 – We are a big anonymous company with its tens of thousands of partners and personnel, agents, boards of directors, awesone storage and processing establishments and a well-developed communications network. We pursue big markets to do business.

We do big business. Many other insects, flies and butterflies visit the flowers with which we do business. However, when we find a profitable source, we rush toward it as an army of 10 or 20 or 30 thousand bees.

Five per cent of our population are responsible for finding a market. They constantly search big markets and we evaluate the markets they have found. If, for example, one of our friends finds a market of one million flowers in the morning, you will see their nectar and pollen transferred into our depots in a few hours.

Our communication system works perfectly. Let me describe this to you with an example.

It was nearly noon. One of the elder bees entered the hive in great excitement. Other grown-up bees crowded around it.

From the smell of the pollen on its body we could understand what kind of a source it had found. We tasted the nectar it threw up onto the comb from its mouth. It was a bit more watery than it should be. However, we had to take into account the heat outside and the fact that that sample had been collected in early morning. The amount of sugar in nectar in morning hours is less than at other times. In short, the kind and quality of the nectar seemed OK. But we did not yet know the location of the source and whether it was a rich site, nor how far away it was.

Our friend immediately began to dance. A few bees near it and I held on to it to follow its movements. While dancing, it uttered some sounds which meant that the source was rich, and drew a figure 8 over the comb, completing a turn in 15 seconds, which meant that the source was 10 kilometres away. Our friend was dancing according to gravitation. While drawing the line in the middle of 8, it made an angle of 28 to the right. Since we always take the sun to be at an angle of 90, the source our friend described was 62 to the right of the sun.

The information our friend gave to us was for a still, windless day. However, it was windy when we left the hive and therefore, taking into account the direction and strength of the wind, we corrected the angle given to us.

Day 47 – Our population has recently increased. We are about 60.000 bees. Our hive is not enough to accommodate all of us. Preparations made over the preceding few weeks mean that some of us will move to another place.

Day 50 – (your June 25) – Male bees have left their cells in which they had been fed for some time. For the time being, they have nothing to do in the hive.

About a dozen larvae have been specially fed for some weeks. We feed in this way more larvae than needed. The first among them to leave its cell becomes the queen and, since there cannot be more than one queen in a hive, she immediately seeks out the cells where other candidates are and destroys them.

The new queen will spend the first few days of her life eating honey to gain strength. Afterwards, she will set off on the mating flight. During this flight which lasts a few days, she will store up in a special section in her body the sperms she will have taken from six or so male bees in sufficient amount to fertilize the one million or so eggs she will lay during her life. If the hive needs male bees, the queen closes the mouth of that section and the eggs she lays pass into the cells of the comb prepared for the male bees without being inseminated.

Two days after her return from the mating, she begins to lay eggs.

Day 51 – Today at noon, about 15,000 of us, left our hive. Before departure, we filled our stomachs fully with honey. We will use it to build the comb in our new home.

It was a great responsibility. If we made a mistake in choosing the site of a new home, it might result in the end of the community.

We made a detailed search of all the places that looked suitable for a new home.

Returning to the cluster, we began to dance to inform one another about the places we had found. A consultative system prevails in bee communities. No one forces its opinion upon others. So, we follow carefully each other’s dance. If the idea of one among us seems to another better than its own, it copies that one’s dance. In this way, as the dance spreads, a consensus is formed.

The hole or opening we prefer for home must be of a volume of at least 15 litres. For we must put by at least ten kilos of honey for winter. We do not choose openings of a volume of more than 100 litres, for it is almost impossible to heat them. The entrance must be at least two metres above the ground and face south. The home must be dry, without wet. If any moisture leaks through the walls, we cover them with the resin of trees. We do not decide on a place after a single search. We repeat searches several times to be certain of the suitability of a particular site.

Day 52 – As yesterday, today too, we could not agree on a particular site to establish our new home.

Day 53 – We have found two other places. After comparisons and new researches, we have been pleased with two of them.

Day 54 – We found new places today. Many of the surveyors began to dance the same dance but unanimity was not achieved.

Day 55 – We have to make a choice. If we fail to reach an agreement, though it happens rarely, we will end up making our home in a bush. This means death.

We have looked at 29 possible sites, of which we have chosen one to the south-east after a last visit to it of the explorers. We rushed into the cluster of bees who have been waiting for days. They were as if dead. Slowly, we managed to move them. First they began movements to get warm. The temperature of the muscles has to reach 36 C. At last, a humming began. Those which had got warm enough began leaving the cluster. In a minute all the bees took flight. When they had formed a cylinder with a diameter of 10 metres, we advanced to the front to lead the others. Flying at a speed of more than 10 kilometres an hour, we reached our new home. Before entering, we marked the entrance with the smell of our community.

First we cleaned the site of all the rubbish and then covered the fissures with the resin we collected from trees. Afterwards, we began to build a comb. The pioneering columns scattered round to collect nectar. A new community of beas has been established by the end of the day.

Day 58 – It is very hot. Some among us have set up an air-condition system at the entrance of the hive. They cool the hive by moving their wings.

I left the pioneering column. I collect water driblets and carry them to the hive.

Day 60 – I am old and worn out, ready to retire. Besides the tasks I did in the hive, I have flown more than 2000 kilometers to provide you with the best of food, as it is ordered and inspired in me by my Creator:

You Lord inspired in the bee: Build your homes in hills, on trees, and in what they (men) construct. Then eat of all the produce (fruit and flowers of the earth), and set out on the ways of your Lord submissively (to Him). From their stomachs issues a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for men. Surely in this a sign for those who reflect. (Qur’an, 16.68-9)

I have produced 50 grams of honey. Do not despise this for we, the population of a hive, make 200,000 flights a day and produce one kilo of honey. You, all human beings, could not produce or make even a single gram of it even if you all helped one another.

We make honey for your benefit but do not expect any return for it. We fulfill our duty of servant hood to our Creator. It is He Who employs us to offer to you the best of food by means of us. So, you must know Him and thank Him.

The spider’s web is woven from a special silk. This is a fibrous protein first secreted as a fluid and then stretched into strands which, because of their strength and elasticity, are extraordinarily resistant to breakage.

Garden spiders (Arena diedemata) make their webs from two different silks. The threads of the main structure are woven from a strong silk which can be stretched further (by as much as 20%) but then loses its strength. By contrast, the other kind of silk, used between the main threads, is lighter and stickier and can be expanded three times without losing its original characteristics. Under a microscope drops containing a reserve of silk can be seen at intervals on these thinner ‘hunting silks’.

After its web is complete the spider hides out of sight, somewhere on the outer strands of the web. When an insect flies into the web and struggles, the spider is alerted by the vibrations and runs out. It rapidly contains the victim’s struggle to escape by tying it up with the silk set aside for this purpose in the drops: the elasticity of the hunting silks is vital in this task. While tying it up, the spider injects the victim with the poison from behind its jaws which both paralyses the insect and acts as a digestive juice softening up the now helpless corpse. The spider then goes on injecting and sucking back fluids until the soft parts of the corpse have been digested – any skeletal parts left over are simply discarded.

Spiders put their weaving skills to a number of different uses. As well as making the insect traps we call spider webs, they weave draglines’ that help them to locate themselves and to break their fall if they should slip. Small spiders spin a sort of ‘parachute’ thread that allows them to be carried on the wind.

Some species of spider make active traps. Menneus spins an elastic net between its legs and sweeps it through the air to catch passing insects. Cledomelea dangles from one leg a blob of sticky silk at the end of a long thread and swings it out to attach its prey. Trapdoor spiders (Ctenizidae) dig a burrow closed by a silken door; when an insect ventures near, the spider darts out to capture the imprudent victim.

Spider webs are beautiful, intricate constructions: threads which serve as scaffolding during the construction process are removed once the web, a mesh of sticky and non-sticky lines, has been completed. The skill of producing webs is clearly instinctive, but the irregularity and variety of web forms shows that the skill is adapted by individual species to serve different functions and suit different circumstances – some webs hang in the air to catch insects as they fly, others are laid across the ground, both at angles calculated (presumably by experience) to lure and intercept prey.

Recent research has shown that some A. Glomosus spiders use ultraviolet rays to attract their prey. In one experiment fruit flies (Drosophila) were set free between two webs lit up by a white beam. One web was that of a A. Glomosus spider and radiated ultraviolet rays; the other was not: the flies were attracted to the former

Another remarkable species are the Dolmedes spiders which have long legs (8-10 cm) and striped, brown bodies. They live near water ponds where they have learnt, despite having very poor sight, to catch fish. Their hunting-gathering technique is of awe-inspiring dexterity and patience, rivaling that of any human fisherman. First the spider walks around on the bank to pick a site suitable for laying a web. Once that is done, it waits patiently, standing partly on water and partly on land. A special sticky secretion helps secure its hold on the surface of the water. While waiting, it prepares its poison in its mouth. When a small fish happens by, the spider plunges forward to seize it, releasing its poison into the water as it does so. As the poison begins to work, the spider turns over making its own body a sort of float for the struggling fish, carries it to land and there consumes it.

Some species of spiders do not make webs to ensnare their prey. Instead, they actively pursue their prey or lie in ambush for it. They are endowed with specially keen sight or touch sense, used respectively for hunting in daylight or in the dark. The ambushing varieties are remarkably well camouflaged – the colour and shape of their bodies making them almost invisible against the immediate background of leaves or bark or stones and sand.

One of the night-hunting spiders of the Amazon jungle spends the day hiding in crevices or in holes in trees, emerging into the jungle at night to stalk its food. Its legs spread the width of a human hand and move with utmost stealth until, when near enough, the spider makes a sudden, final dash, seizing small mammals (humming-birds, for example), stunning them with its poison, then dragging and shaking them to death. The detestation and horror this species arouses in human beings is hardly justified – its poison is not more troubling to a human than a bee sting.

Reputation and significance

Spiders have a very negative image among human beings. Perhaps the number of legs, the grotesque facial expression, the hairiness of some species, the fact that they carry a poison, but most of all, the fact that they hide in corners and come out unexpectedly – have contributed to the spiders’ bad reputation. The poison of spiders, with just two exceptions (the ‘black widow’ and the ‘brown recluse’), is relatively harmless to humans.

Spider silk cannot economically be converted into silk cloth for human use. However, it has been used for the cross-hairs of optical instruments. More recently, the silk of the tropical species Nephila has been employed in the manufacture of bullet-proof jackets. The Nephila spin huge webs strung across trees, as long as 2 metres or more, and of a silk so strong and elastic that the local peoples make very effective fishing nets from it.

On balance, it is high time human beings overcame their irrational detestation of spiders. We should be grateful to them for all the good they do for us in preserving our persons and properties, especially our crops, against devastation by insects. One authority calculated the spider population of England and Wales as of the order of 2.5 billions at any one time. This means that if (at a most conservative estimate) each spider eats 100 insects a year, then the total number of insects consumed by spiders is 250 billions annually.

REFERENCES

‘Spiders’ Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall’s Corporation.

Buton, M. & Buton, R. (1975) Enevlopedia of Insects and Arachnids, BPC Publishing Ltd, London.

Gerald, L. & Wood, F.Z.S. (1982) The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats, Guinness Superlative Ltd, London.

Waterson, AR. (ed.) (t975), Collins Enevlopedia of Animals, William Collins Sons & Co Ltd, London and Glasgow.

SPIDERS IN GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS

The largest and the heaviest spider: The Guyanan ‘bird-eating’ spider (Theraphosa

blondi) of South America has long been credited with the ‘largest spider’ title. A male specimen with a leg-span of 254mm (10 in) and a body length of 89mm (3.5 in) weighed just under 57g (2 oz).

The smallest spiders are the midget spiders (Symphytognathidae), the tiniest of which is the pale yellow Patu marplesi of Western Samoa, S.W. Pacific. A male specimen found in moss at an altitude of 610m (2000 if) measured 0.43mm (0.07 in), which means it is half the size of a full-stop on this page!

The largest spider webs are the aerial ones spun by the tropical orb weavers of the genus Nephila. Several examples found in the Karrakpur Hills near Monghyr, central Bihar, India measured 1.5m (5ft) in diameter (about 4.79m (1 5ft 9in) in circumference) and had long supporting guy-lines up to 6.1 m (2Oft) in length.

The smallest webs in the world are the aerial ones spun by midget spiders. That of the orb weaver Chasmoeephaion armaturn of New Zealand measures about 9-10mm (O.35-0.39in.) in diameter which means it is half the size of a small postage stamp.

The highest speed recorded for a spider on a level surface is 53cm/s (1 .73ft/s) (= 1.90km/h; 1.18 miles/h) for a female house spider, Tegenaria atrica. This may not seem very fast, but the spider covers a distance equivalent to 330 times its own body length in ten seconds.