Tag: God’s stuff

Introducing Seymouria

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Image result for images of seymour ia

This little character doesn’t get much ink nowadays, having been upstaged by his more spectacular contemporaries. But back when I was first getting hooked on prehistoric critters as a boy, “Seymouria” was in all the books.

Not everything that comes from Texas is big. Seymouria was only two feet long or so. Its fossils have also been found in Europe. The odd thing about Seymouria was that he seems to have been an amphibian that was able to prosper in a dry climate because some of his features were more like a reptile’s than an amphibian’s. No fossils of its young have been found. I discount reports that Seymouria tadpoles resembled beautiful women.

The Creator is very creative. Seymouria may not look like much, but it was really a very innovative design.

I wonder if it’ll turn up in Obann. It might make a nice pet for somebody.

P.S.–I couldn’t post this as a “Memory Lane” piece. Someone might think I’d seen a Seymouria.

Serenity Break: Seahorses

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I think God enjoyed creating seahorses.

Just watch. Let peace wash over you. There will still be seahorses when the Lord regenerates His creation; but there will be a lot of other things for which no place shall anymore be found.

And I don’t think we’ll miss those things.

‘More of God’s Handiwork: the Archer Fish’ (2015)

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This is another critter I learned about by reading “Mark Trail” in the Sunday color comics: the archer fish.

https://leeduigon.com/2015/07/29/more-of-gods-handiwork-the-archer-fish/

Is this fish cool, or what? It reminds me of a scene in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, in which the mermaid chastises snide comments by spouting a hard stream of water into the commenter’s eye. “That hit me like a blowtorch!” he cries.

Now he knows how the archer fish’s prey feels.

A Mother Hen and Her… What?

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You won’t believe this video. And I’d better watch out, or I won’t be able to eat chicken anymore.

This hen has adopted a kitten. She broods it. And the kitten, if removed, crawls back under the chicken. Did you know God put that that much love in His creation, even in its fallen state? Whatever will it be like, once He regenerates it?

The only problem here is that the chicken can’t nurse the kitten. The participating human will have to do that. But someday that’ll make for quite a memory.

A Bedtime Story for Her Cat

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This little girl would like to read her cat a bedtime story. She has a nice big book. I don’t think she’s learned to read yet, but for the cat’s benefit, she’s faking it–making up the story as she goes along. And the cat hangs on her every word.

A glimpse into Heaven.

The Giant Lemur

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I’m sick of the news by now, I won’t write any more of it today or tomorrow. Instead, let’s hand off to Mr. Nature. ****

Jambo, Mr. Nature here–with the giant lemur of Madagascar, Megaladapis (and if you can pronounce that, go to the head of the class). We can call it “the koala lemur” because it was built like an oversized koala.

This is an animal that probably should still be with us. It only died out some 2,000 years ago–probably because of a combination of environmental stress (droughts and wildfires) and overhunting by newly-arrived humans. There are cryptozoologists who cling to the hope of discovering a live giant lemur somewhere in the island’s shrinking forests, but I’m afraid that’s wishful thinking.

If you’re into such things, take a good look at the jaw muscle attachment areas on the giant lemur’s skull: ideal for munching prodigious quantities of tough vegetation.

I find it hard to imagine an animal more harmless, more un-threatening, than the koala lemur. I grieve their extinction.

But God does have the whole universe at His disposal, it’s His, He created it, and who knows? Maybe he’s found a better place for these benign creatures. All we can do now is to marvel at what they must have been, not so very long ago.

God’s Stuff Works

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This little video shows the amazing things that happened, most of them totally unexpected, when wild wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park, after being killed off in the 1920s.

Biologists are only just beginning to understand the intricacies of any ecosystem. If one thing is affected, many things are affected. The intricacies of God’s creation require a great deal of study and observation. But the point is that the whole thing, as God created it, works.

Correction: The “deer” in the video are actually elk. Much more so than deer, elk changed Yellowstone’s ecosystem–until the wolves were brought in and changed it back.

The Singing Caterpillar

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Well, all right, it doesn’t sing like Gene Autry. But it does squeak like a mouse–no small achievement, when you don’t have vocal organs.

Mr. Nature here, with the North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillar, which squeaks like a mouse when you bother it. This video was filmed outdoors, so you’ll have to turn up the volume to hear the caterpillar. Scientists theorize that it does this to fool small animals that might want to eat it: the caterpillar’s squeak sounds like an alarm call one of those small animals would make if someone really dangerous, like a hawk or a cat, came along. That’s the theory, at least. No one’s found a way to ask the caterpillar.

The caterpillar produces its squeak by forcing air out the spiracles (breathing holes) along its sides. Pavarotti never learned how to do that.

God’s stuff–infinite variety, infinite surprise.

A Very Exotic Cat

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Hi, Mr. Nature here, with a cat you probably have never heard of–the manul, or Pallas’ Cat (named for a Mr. Pallas who first described the species for science). These cats, although they’re rare, are found all over Asia, from Iran to Mongolia. The ones in this video are in a zoo in New York.

Okay, who wants to go to the zoo and pay to see a cat? But these cats are unusual. They may look fat, but they’re not: that’s just their build. And they  need a lot of fur because it gets kind of cold in Tibet in the winter.

We are told by the zookeeper that they wouldn’t make good pets. Well, I don’t know how many people have ever tried to have a pet manul. It would make a very nice package for your lap. Almost all animals respond to kindness, gentleness, and affection, and cats are intelligent and adaptable. Not that I’m urging you to acquire a member of an endangered species for a pet! Our animal shelters are full of nice ordinary cats who really need you.

But I do find these Pallas cats pleasing to look at, their fur cries out to be petted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn up in North Obann, one of these days.

They Don’t Fight Like Dogs & Cats

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I suspect Heaven’s gonna be a lot like this–and Earth, too, once God finishes repairing it. Meanwhile, He gives us these glimpses.

Dogs and cats don’t have to fight. They really can be best friends. Puppies and kittens can do it. But we humans–well, Dante called the earth “the little threshing floor that makes us all so fierce.”