THE COMPASS IN THE ANT'S EYEWe need a map to shows us where we are, and a compass to tell us
which direction to take. But the black desert ant, which lives along the
Mediterranean coast of Tunisia Mahares, can find its way without
using either device.
When the Sun rises, the ant leaves the nest to search for food in the
desert sands, whose temperatures can rise as high as 70 °C (158°F).
The ant follows a meandering course in an area extendingup to 200 meters (650 feet) from its nest, frequently stopping and turning around. Yet despite all these
complex zigzags,upon finding food,it follows a straight line back to its nest
.Compared to its own size, this journey the ant undertakes is equivalent to a human being walking 35 to 40 km (21 to 24 miles) in the desert and then returning to his starting point, without neither map nor compass.37 The magnitude of this accomplishment can be better understood by bearing in mind the scarcity of signs in the desert to help the ant find its way. It would be yet another miracle for the ant to remember
the landmarks it saw on its wanderings and then find its way by searching them out. Yet the direction-finding system placed in its eyes by God is far su-Engineering in Nature 112 perior to either map or compass. The desert ant is able to polarize light—one feature lacking
in the human eye. During this process it perceives
certain rays that are invisible to us and, using them,
can distinguish north and south every time it looks around. It thus always
estimates the direction in which its nest lies and has no difficulty
in returning to it. How can one account for an ant knowing
about polarized light, something that humans discovered only recently,
and using it like a compass? It is of course impossible for the
Again, it's impossible to account for this ant's complex eye structure
in terms of random coincidences. Ever since their first days on
Earth, all desert ants have possessed eyes with exactly the same properties—
the gift of their Creator, Who created us and all other living
things. In one verse it is revealed:
He is Lord of the heavens and the Earth and everything in between
them, so worship Him and persevere in His worship. Do
you know of any other with His Name? (Surah Maryam: 65)
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