Daily Devotional – October 14

Biology

One of the most bizarre looking creatures in the world today is the star-nosed mole of North America. It got its name from 22 “tentacles” hanging off its nose. This star-shaped structure is more sensitive to touch than an elephant’s trunk. The star structure contains more than 25,000 projections that send messages via more than 100,000 nerve fibers to the brain. Since the mole lives in total darkness, the star tentacles function very much like our eyes - but use touch instead!

The bottom pair of tentacles has the highest density of nerve endings, acting like our central vision. The other tentacles act like our peripheral vision, allowing the mole to pick up the big picture. The mole uses these 22 tentacles to “scan” the environment with a rapid series of touches, too fast for our eyes even to see. In one laboratory test, a star-nosed mole was able to find five pieces of earthworm in a single second!

Evolutionists believe that these tentacles evolved over time by accident and chance. If the star-nosed mole did not have his tentacles from the beginning, how would he have found his food? If he found his food without his tentacles, why would he have needed to evolve these tentacles? He was already eating! God designed the star-nosed mole from the beginning with its unique “seeing system.”

O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known;

~ Habakkuk 3:2

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

References for this devotional.