Monday, May 21, 2007

Termite's belly


What came first the chicken or the egg? This of course has baffled evolutionists for ever. But what about the termite? I was listening to a radio program with a creationist scientist and he was explaining the complicated digestive system of the termite. You see, termites eat wood, right? Right, but they cannot digest wood.
In order to do this they require a tiny little bug, actually a protozoan, to live in its belly. This protozoan does something to the termite that allows the termite to produce the enzyme needed to digest wood. Problem is, the protozoan has no way of moving, no hands or feet, flippers, tail or fins, and without those it would soon die and never find a mate to breed with. So, along comes another even tinier bug that lives on the protozoa’s back. And wouldn’t you know, the hitching bug happens to have little flippers that he uses to propel the protozoan, which allows him to find food and a girl friend. There you have it, three critters living in a symbiotic relationship. So the question about the egg seems simple compared to the three bugs.

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