The Woodpecker: Evolution or Creation?
by Owen Borville
June 5, 2019
Biology
The woodpecker and its distinguished behavior has been mentioned as a problem for evolutionist beliefs that involve the gradual development of behaviors and physical features over long periods of time. While woodpeckers have many of the features that birds do, their most unique feature or behavior is their ability to penetrate through solid wood tree trunks and branches in order to find their meals. Woodpeckers have extremely strong beaks that can penetrate through solid wood and help capture insects inside. Woodpeckers have short legs, sharp claws, stiff tails and stout, and sharp beaks with long tongues. Woodpeckers are very skilled tree climbers and have the ability to peck with their beaks for larvae or ants from burrows within the wood. While most woodpeckers feed on insects found in trees or wood, some woodpeckers eat native berries, fruit, nuts and seeds. Some woodpeckers eat tree sap in addition to insects.
Rhythmic Pecking Patterns: Woodpeckers have interesting behavior patterns that are difficult for evolutionists to explain. In addition to pecking for food, woodpeckers are also known to peck into tree trunks in order to make a nesting location. Woodpeckers have also been known to peck in a rapid rhythmic succession to establish their territory and to attract mates. This rhythmic pecking or drumming has been observed to occur most commonly in the spring and on metal surfaces such as utility poles in addition to wood surfaces. This drumming can occur several times a day and last for days or months. Most woodpeckers are territorial and commonly live in the same area. In addition to tree cavities, woodpeckers are known to live and nest in holes inside buildings and other cavity locations where a nest can be made.
Long Tongue: Another unique feature of the woodpecker is its long tongue, which has been measured at about 10 centimeters (4 inches), which is one third of its body length and would be the proportional equivalent of a human tongue being up to two feet in length. The woodpecker tongue is so long that it must wrap around the inside of its head and its brain when not extended out of its beak. The long tongue helps the woodpecker reach insects inside the tree trunk, in addition to helping cushion its brain from its pecking activity. How does the evolutionist explain the long tongue? The short-tongued woodpeckers couldn't get any bugs and died? The simplistic explanations of stubborn and biased evolutionists continue to be an embarrassment to science. The woodpecker tongue also has a sharp, barbed ending that helps to capture bugs in trees in addition to a glue like substance on the tongue. God's grand design continues to amaze.
Wood-pecking Origin and Strong Beak: How does an evolutionist explain the wood-pecking behavior and its origin? Woodpeckers can easily look for food just as other birds do. Why would a bird need or want to peck into a tree trunk if it could find insects like other birds do? In other words, why would the woodpecker need to "evolve" this ability to peck wood? Creationists assert that the wood-pecking behavior is part of a grand intelligent design and not an "evolved" behavior. How did the woodpecker get a beak strong enough to penetrate the wood? How did the woodpecker develop the ability to create rhythmic drumming pecks? Even engineers have been amazed at the strength of the woodpecker beak that can penetrate solid wood. Engineers today even use the woodpecker beak as a model for the design of new materials. Man today is still learning from God's design.
The woodpecker has a very strong beak. In addition to the strength of the beak, how does the woodpecker stand the force of the pecking behavior without damaging its brain? The answer again is in the design. The woodpecker skull is designed to absorb the shock of the pecking action with support layers that help minimize the effect of the strong force associated with the pecking. A scan of the woodpecker brain revealed a layer of "spongy bone" that helps the woodpecker absorb the impact of the pecking. Scientists estimate that the woodpecker pecks 12,000 times per day. In addition, other bones located around the brain help support and protect from the impact of the pecking action without allowing concussions and other brain damage, along with its tongue as cushion. Engineers today are using the design found in the woodpecker skull to design helmets for humans.
Creationists explain that the woodpecker behavior and features are not the product of evolution but the product of an intelligent designer who created all life. Evolutionists can continue to promote their false interpretation involving gradual evolution over millions of years, however, the observed scientific evidence points toward intelligent design by a powerful creator. Evolutionists continue to show their bias toward an idea that has been proven wrong and outdated many times in the 160 years since it was proposed. Living things show elements of design that did not evolve gradually over millions of years but are part of a unique creation during a week-long event 6,000 years ago.
by Owen Borville
June 5, 2019
Biology
The woodpecker and its distinguished behavior has been mentioned as a problem for evolutionist beliefs that involve the gradual development of behaviors and physical features over long periods of time. While woodpeckers have many of the features that birds do, their most unique feature or behavior is their ability to penetrate through solid wood tree trunks and branches in order to find their meals. Woodpeckers have extremely strong beaks that can penetrate through solid wood and help capture insects inside. Woodpeckers have short legs, sharp claws, stiff tails and stout, and sharp beaks with long tongues. Woodpeckers are very skilled tree climbers and have the ability to peck with their beaks for larvae or ants from burrows within the wood. While most woodpeckers feed on insects found in trees or wood, some woodpeckers eat native berries, fruit, nuts and seeds. Some woodpeckers eat tree sap in addition to insects.
Rhythmic Pecking Patterns: Woodpeckers have interesting behavior patterns that are difficult for evolutionists to explain. In addition to pecking for food, woodpeckers are also known to peck into tree trunks in order to make a nesting location. Woodpeckers have also been known to peck in a rapid rhythmic succession to establish their territory and to attract mates. This rhythmic pecking or drumming has been observed to occur most commonly in the spring and on metal surfaces such as utility poles in addition to wood surfaces. This drumming can occur several times a day and last for days or months. Most woodpeckers are territorial and commonly live in the same area. In addition to tree cavities, woodpeckers are known to live and nest in holes inside buildings and other cavity locations where a nest can be made.
Long Tongue: Another unique feature of the woodpecker is its long tongue, which has been measured at about 10 centimeters (4 inches), which is one third of its body length and would be the proportional equivalent of a human tongue being up to two feet in length. The woodpecker tongue is so long that it must wrap around the inside of its head and its brain when not extended out of its beak. The long tongue helps the woodpecker reach insects inside the tree trunk, in addition to helping cushion its brain from its pecking activity. How does the evolutionist explain the long tongue? The short-tongued woodpeckers couldn't get any bugs and died? The simplistic explanations of stubborn and biased evolutionists continue to be an embarrassment to science. The woodpecker tongue also has a sharp, barbed ending that helps to capture bugs in trees in addition to a glue like substance on the tongue. God's grand design continues to amaze.
Wood-pecking Origin and Strong Beak: How does an evolutionist explain the wood-pecking behavior and its origin? Woodpeckers can easily look for food just as other birds do. Why would a bird need or want to peck into a tree trunk if it could find insects like other birds do? In other words, why would the woodpecker need to "evolve" this ability to peck wood? Creationists assert that the wood-pecking behavior is part of a grand intelligent design and not an "evolved" behavior. How did the woodpecker get a beak strong enough to penetrate the wood? How did the woodpecker develop the ability to create rhythmic drumming pecks? Even engineers have been amazed at the strength of the woodpecker beak that can penetrate solid wood. Engineers today even use the woodpecker beak as a model for the design of new materials. Man today is still learning from God's design.
The woodpecker has a very strong beak. In addition to the strength of the beak, how does the woodpecker stand the force of the pecking behavior without damaging its brain? The answer again is in the design. The woodpecker skull is designed to absorb the shock of the pecking action with support layers that help minimize the effect of the strong force associated with the pecking. A scan of the woodpecker brain revealed a layer of "spongy bone" that helps the woodpecker absorb the impact of the pecking. Scientists estimate that the woodpecker pecks 12,000 times per day. In addition, other bones located around the brain help support and protect from the impact of the pecking action without allowing concussions and other brain damage, along with its tongue as cushion. Engineers today are using the design found in the woodpecker skull to design helmets for humans.
Creationists explain that the woodpecker behavior and features are not the product of evolution but the product of an intelligent designer who created all life. Evolutionists can continue to promote their false interpretation involving gradual evolution over millions of years, however, the observed scientific evidence points toward intelligent design by a powerful creator. Evolutionists continue to show their bias toward an idea that has been proven wrong and outdated many times in the 160 years since it was proposed. Living things show elements of design that did not evolve gradually over millions of years but are part of a unique creation during a week-long event 6,000 years ago.
