Food Getting Among Animals

[Music] hungry well who is it appetite seems to be one thing every living creature has in common the eating habits of animals is one of the most diverse studies in nature God has employed a seemingly endless variety of physical differen [Music] [Music] the jungle is full of strange animals with odd eating habits this creature looks like he has a tail on both ends it's an ant eer his main diet is termites and ants his long razor sharp claws are a hindrance to walking but just the tool he needs for carrying open old stuff trunks loaded with termites digging termites out of their narrow tunnels would be an impossible task for most animals the ante eater has exactly the right equipment a long slender sticky tongue he thrusts it deep into the termite Burrows trapping the ants and termites on its sticky surface and drawing them back into its mouth the suspenders by the way have nothing to do with keeping his trousers up they just happen to be unusual markings on this altogether unusual animal the powerful Claws and strong prehensile tail are equally helpful when the anteater dines in the tree there seems to be no lack of ants in his Pantry the ante eater equipped in a remarkable way to live exclusively on insects for many years man has known that rattlesnakes could in some strange mysterious manner find their prey in the dark but how in a sense the rattlesnake has two sets of eyes and the organ that sees in the dark is an a depression on either side of the head Dr Raymond C KS and Dr Theodore H bulock of the University of California at Los Angeles have contributed much to the world's new knowledge of this strange phenomenon the method employed in obtaining this information is a unique and interesting experiment Dr Kohl's milks the Rattler of its venom Dr bulock anesthetizes the reple the snake is blindfolded depriving him of sight in the realm of visible light platinum electrodes are connected to the nerves coming from the pit organ so that the tiny signals flash from the organ to the snake's brain can be intercepted these signals are Amplified so that they may be heard on a loud speaker or recorded on a graph recorder and now for the test the snake is obviously excited by the human hand a warm-blooded animal has crossed its path the snake can see the invisible infrared Rays from the heat of a human hand an ice cube is of little interest to the rat why while an animal that cold would be dead lighting a match in front of the snake is like turning on a search light of infrared Rays the recorder shows a sudden violent reaction a piece of special heat absorbing glass cuts off the Rays and the snake's reaction stops the pit F night Prowler of the desert and Mountain Side marvelously equipped by the Creator to find its necessary food on the darkest night the ocean is a veritable sea soup the abundance of microscopic plant and animal life is is quite beyond measure there are a number of creatures in the ocean very well fitted for straining sea waterer of its microscopic inhabitants one of these is the barnicle it is found on rocks along the shore and on Warf filings in prodigious numbers they remain permanently fixed in one place fastened by means of a leathery stock called a goose neck but the main part of it body is encased in a protective shell when the Barnacle is covered by the rising tide the shell pops open and the legs of the animal looking like feathered ostrich plumes are Thrust out to trap tiny plants and animals these invisible creatures are strained from the Water by the featherlike fish net when the legs called Siri are drawn back into the shell the captured food is carried deep inside to its mouth one zoologist described the Barnacle as an animal that stands on its head and kicks food into its mouth with its feet have you ever seen the fish that spits the Archer fish has a good reason for its odd behavior it's shooting for Gaz [Music] a stream of water is shot from the fish's mouth like a bullet the prey is stunned by the force of the water and drops to the surface below the spitting fish seldom misses the target the Archer fish has an unusual problem the very serious one of refraction because the fish is under the water he sees the insect where it isn't have you ever tried to shoot fish if you have you know it's practically impossible for a fish to make all these split-second computations necessary to hit the target would seem utterly fantastic wouldn't it but the Archer fish does it time and time again Marksmanship we cannot attribute to its own reason or intelligence again our little creature has been IND owed by the Creator with an innate skill for obtaining food that would be completely out of its [Music] reach the chameleon is the only animal in the world that can glass to its food more than a body's length away without moving anything but its tongue [Music] [Music] [Music] the eyes are another example of unusual equipment they are mounted in ball turrets and one sight organ is able to rotate independently of the other while one eye is searching for an enemy the other eye is searching for a bite to eat when the tasty prey is cited the eyes work in unison probably to improve the aim of the tongue the skin of the comedian is a heavy plate of armor and it's not only tough it's made up of an amazing cell structure that enables the a moment's notice camouflage is as old as life itself these baby chameleons are just a few hours old and already they're on their own making immediate use of all that God has given them from the tiny Balter at eyes to the feet the tongue and the [Music] tail imagine something like this happening to you you when you were just a few hours old to the chameleon it's all a part of this wonderful new life no formulas or bottles are necessary when the tiny reptile feels the need for sustenance he simply helps himself a grasshopper is a giant compared to the baby chameleon but the little fellow show no fear perhaps they realize the someday a grasshopper will be nothing more than a bite to eat [Music] everywhere in nature we see the unmistakable evidence of God's creative wisdom the eating habits of his creatures are among those commonplace things that speak so eloquently of God's design and thoughtfulness God has provided for our needs too in a very special way he has not only provided for our physical needs but our spiritual hunger as well for he has declared man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God [Music]