YAHWEH’S CREATION OR RANDOM EVOLUTION?
Bombardier Beetles, commonly found near ponds and under rocks, are easily recognised by
their orange and blue coloration, and they exhibit an absolutely unique defensive capability possessed by no other creature. When threatened or attacked, they eject a noxious and potent spray from a special ‘reaction chamber’ located at the tip of their abdomen. Not only is the well-aimed spray strongly offensive and irritating, it is also literally hot-as hot, in fact, as
boiling water.
Scientists have found that the bombardiers have two sacs that lie side by side in the abdomen. The beetles can aim their vile spray with uncanny accuracy by swivelling the gun-barrellike openings of these sacs. Small predators such as ants, spiders, frogs or praying mantis are effectively repulsed by the spray.
How is the spray actually produced? German investigators have found that the special
glands contain a mixture of hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide. A smaller outer compartment on each gland contains a mixture of enzymes that catalyse a reaction when
the mixture of the inner chamber is squeezed into the outer one.
The reaction occurs as a small but ties can aim their vile spray with uncanny accuracy by swivelling the gun-barrellike openings of these sacs (see photos). Small predators such as
ants, spiders, frogs or praying mantids are effectively repulsed by the
spray.
How is the spray actually produced? German investigators have found that the special glands contain a mixture of hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide. A smaller outer compartment on each gland contains a mixture of enzymes that catalyse a reaction when the mixture of the inner chamber is squeezed into the outer one.
The reaction occurs as a small but brisant explosion, with oxygen and highly poisonous benzoquinones being produced. The oxygen gas provides the propellant for the expulsion of the benzoquinones. Because of the intense chemical reaction, the bombardier spray is very hot and has been measured at a temperature of nearly IOO°C, or the temperature of boiling water. Finally, the protective spray of the bombardier beetle is not continuous; instead, it is pulsed, just as a rapidly firing machine gun. The discharge can be heard as a distinctly audible “pop.”
But how could the Bombardier Beetle have slowly evolved as evolutionary theory suggests? The creature contains a complex and elaborate system for producing, aiming, and firing an explosive, poisonous mixture of unstable chemicals. The inner compartments containing the
two potentially explosive chemicals must have always been securely isolated from the outer reaction chamber containing the special enzymes that initiate the explosion. Unless everything worked perfectly from the very beginning, the Bombardier Beetle could literally have blown itself into extinction-or at least boiled itself alive!
Nor would the ability to produce such mini-explosions of noxious spray have been of much survival value unless the beetle also had the ability to properly aim the resulting
spray at a potential predator. Any slow changes in the anatomy of pre-bombardier beetles in preparation for the final configuration of a yet future bombardier would have little or no survival value and would be fraught with danger if the various chemicals mixed at the wrong time or in the wrong chamber. Surely a “proto-bombardier” would not have known that various precursor reactants, enzymes, storage compartments, reaction chambers, mixing muscles, diaphragms, and expulsion nozzles would “someday” be useful if they could somehow be properly combined in an integrated, functioning defence system.
Thus the Bombardier Beetle is living proof of intelligent design. The slow changes of evolutionary theory simply cannot account for the absolutely stunning capabilities of the
bombardier. The beetle’s intricate survival mechanism must have been fully functional from the day it was created. With every ‘pop’ of its defensive(or is it offensive?) spray, the Bombardier Beetle dispenses another blast to the theory of evolution.
From an article by Robert A. Ginskey (Plain Truth Magazine, January 1980)