Daily Devotional - January 21

Biology

Orcas, commonly called “killer whales”, are neither whales nor killers of humans. Orcas are the largest mammal of the dolphin family and have a unique herding method more in common with sheepdogs than ocean creatures.

When a pod of orcas find a school of herring, they start a coordinated, circular swimming pattern in order to corral the fish into a tight ball and force them to the surface. The orcas work as a well-orchestrated team to herd the fish upward, using bubbles, clicking calls, flashing their white underside to frighten the fish, and swinging their tails to keep any fish from escaping. The herring become so tightly packed that the surface of the ocean containing the herring ball looks like it is literally boiling. According to cetacean biologist Tiu Simila, “It’s like a ballet, so they have to move in a very coordinated way; and communicate, and make decisions about what to do next.”

While some of the orcas continue to keep the school of fish corralled, others in the pod take turns slapping the underwater ball of herring with their tails, resulting in a few stunned fish dropping out of the school. The herring normally move far too fast for orcas to catch, but by working as a team, the Orcas can take turns eating the stunned fish, one by one.

How can we explain such sophisticated behavior? Believers in naturalism credit it to “evolution” - as if the mere mention of the word explains such complex behavior. Yet, the use of a word actually explains nothing. Such complex, instinctual behaviors have never been explained by evolution. Such coordinated hunting methods are only useful once they exist. So how could pre-orca dolphins, not possessing such behavior, have learned to act in such a coordinated method? If they couldn’t do it from the beginning, they would go hungry!

God created all creatures with the ability to survive and thrive. It is this complex instinctual behavior that shouts “DESIGN.”

[He] doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
~ Job 9:10

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett