The World of Animals (4)

DEER: FAMOUS FOR THEIR ANTLERS

Have you ever touched an animal with antlers? If you did, you would surely be very astonished, because the antlers emerging from the animal's hairy, soft skin are stony. You can compare an antler to your nails. The hard nails coming out of your soft skin and the way they grow so neatly probably astonish you. The way animals' antlers grow is similar to the way our nails grow, yet they are much thicker, harder and bigger.

Except for the reindeer, in general only male deer have antlers. Once the mating season is over, these antlers drop off and are renewed by others growing from beneath them.

While antlers grow, they are covered by a thin, velvet-like layer of skin. Once the antler is fully-grown, the veins are cut and thus can no longer feed the skin. At this stage, the deer abrades the skin by rubbing its antlers against hard surfaces causing the bony structure to appear. At six years of age, their antlers become fully-developed. After this age, they begin gradually to deteriorate. The length, shape and number of branches differ from one deer to another.

You have probably asked yourself, "Why do deer have antlers?" Antlers are an important weapon for deer. With antlers they can protect themselves from enemies. Sometimes, a predator only has to see the antlers to leave the deer alone.

A male red deer draws a border around its territory by smearing a substance secreted from his scent gland. In this territory, he sets up a herd consisting of female deer (doe). He protects his herd with his antlers from his enemies. Upon the entry of an alien into his territory, he pushes him out of it either by his roars or by attempting to gore him with the antlers.

Allah has created these animals with antlers on their heads, thereby making it possible for them to protect themselves and their herds. If Allah had not given them antlers, these animals would have remained defenceless and helpless against their enemies. A male deer could not protect female deer and thus his herd couldn't be constituted. They would not have a weapon against wild animals.

Possibly, few people would ever think, "I wish some animals had a hard, bony substance having a branch-like structure on their heads, so that they could protect themselves". Even if it were the case, these people would fail to make this wish come true. Only Allah, Who has created all creatures most beautifully, has provided deer and other animals with defence mechanisms that exactly match their needs.

In the Qur'an, Allah reminds us this fact:

Say: 'In whose hand is the dominion over everything, He who gives protection and from whom no protection can be given, if you have any knowledge?' (Surat al-Muminun: 88)

As stated in the following verse, the protector of all creatures is Allah alone.

… Your Lord is the Preserver of all things. (Surah Saba': 21)

KANGAROOS AND THEIR POCKETS

You may ask, "Is it possible that an animal could have a pocket?" Surprisingly, kangaroos have a "pouch" on their bellies where baby kangaroos are fed and protected during their development.

The appearance of a joey (baby kangaroo) whose head appears from its mother's pouch arouses feelings of compassion in us. This baby, coming out of the womb when it was only one centimetre (0.393 inches) long - that is before it was fully - developed - reached its mother's pouch after a three minute journey.

There are four different nipples in the pouch of the mother. The new-born sucks the nipple that issues a milk with just the right temperature and amount of fat for a new-born. The other three nipples, on the other hand, contain milk meeting the needs of an older baby. In a few weeks, the new-born stops suckling its nipple and finds another nipple from which issues a milk prepared for its own needs. As it grows older, it finds a third nipple with the type of milk specially prepared for its needs.

Children! At this point, you must ask yourself the questions, "How can a baby kangaroo one centimetre long know the right nipple that would meets its needs?", "How has the mother kangaroo placed milk in her four nipples with such different ingredients?" What is more, the milk the new-born baby sucks is hotter than the other milk from the other nipples. Their ingredients are also different. This being the case, how did the mother kangaroo manage to heat this milk? How has she added the necessary ingredients to this milk?

Remember, it is not the mother who has accomplished all these things. The mother kangaroo does not even know that the milk issuing from the nipples is different. It is unlikely that she could compute the temperature of the milk produced by her nipples. She cannot manage to provide each nipple with different kinds of milk. She cannot even know that they are different. She is only a kangaroo living under Allah's watchful care. Her baby's needs are taken care of by Allah. Our Lord, the All-Compassionate and Most Merciful, has placed the most appropriate milk in the most appropriate place for the babies, that is, in the mother's pouch.

A baby kangaroo spends its first six and a half months in this pouch. After spending the next eight months both in the pouch and outside, it leaves it once and for all.

Meanwhile, before the first joey leaves the pouch, a new brother or sister crawls into the pouch. They both live in the same pouch for a long time, without giving any harm to one another. Each joey sucks on the nipple with the milk containing just the right ingredients for their needs. Then, how do the two siblings know which nipple to suck? The answer is obvious: by Allah's inspiration.

Kangaroos are awesome with their huge bodies; the body is one and a half metres long and the tail one metre (39 inches) long. Thanks to their long hind limbs, the kangaroo family can traverse a distance of eight metres in only a moment. While running, they maintain balance by their big strong tails. Do you think their feet have become large by coincidence? Or, do you think their mother estimated that they would need large hind limbs to leap? Of course, none of these give us the right answer. Nothing has come into existence accidentally. Allah, the One Who creates everything according to the needs of creatures, has also created kangaroos like all other creatures in their most perfect form.

THE KOALA: THE SLEEPYHEAD

We always remember the greyish furred koalas wrapping their arms and legs around the trunks of eucalyptus trees. This sight of koalas is indeed very lovely. Meanwhile, you may wonder why we call a koala "the sleepyhead". Let's remind ourselves right away that koalas sleep 18 hours a day!

The fore and hind paws of koalas enable them to spend a great part of their lives on eucalyptus trees. This is the way Allah created their paws!

Koalas can quickly climb trees with their long curled arms, and sharp claws and paws that hold tightly on to the trees. The two fingers of their fore-paws are separated from the other three. If we compare a human hand to theirs, then we must talk about two thumbs. These thumbs, which greatly differ from other fingers, help them to cling to small branches. Like a hook, koalas thrust their claws into trees and thus hold on to the soft and smooth surfaces of tree trunks. With their four paws, they can readily clutch tree branches, just like we clutch a stick, and climb trees after they wrap their paws around their branches. These are what makes a koala's life on trees easy!

Although koalas are known to be lazy, they can move very quickly on trees. They can even jump from one branch to another, covering a distance of a metre (39 inches) in a leap. Female koalas give birth to a single baby in two years and, like kangaroos, they carry it in their pouch. During the first months, the baby koala remains in its mother's pouch. After this period, the baby hitches a piggyback ride for a year. The mother picks a favourite tree in the eucalyptus forest for its home because she eats eucalyptus leaves - and that's about all she eats! That is why you can only find koalas in Australia, where eucalyptus trees are legion.

Although there are more than 600 species of eucalyptus tree in Australia, koalas only eat certain leaves from 35 of them. Koalas can't live just anywhere because, apart from being a store of leaves, the eucalyptus trees constitute a unique shelter for them.

There are many kinds of koala species. Each species feed on a different kind of eucalyptus leaf. If you are planning to move a koala away, you need also to take the eucalyptus leaves on which he feeds with you. Apart from their diets, koalas rarely climb down eucalyptus trees because they are hardly able to move around on the ground. The eucalyptus tree's leaves constitute different chemical substances. These substances are poisonous and dangerous for all animals except for koalas. Before swallowing, koalas grind these leaves with their teeth. The harmful elements in the leaves are filtered in the koala's liver and expelled from the body. By the will of Allah, this food, which is extremely poisonous for other animals, does not harm koalas. Therefore, koalas can eat about a kilogram (2.204 pounds) of poisonous leaves everyday without trouble. Koalas even get their water from these leaves. At certain times of the year, two thirds of the eucalyptus leaf consists of water. Therefore, only feeding on eucalyptus leaves, a koala can survive for months without drinking water. The tops of eucalyptus trees are vulnerable to wind. For this reason, koalas have very thick fur.

This harmony between a poisonous plant and an animal shows us that koalas and eucalyptus tree have been created by the same Creator. This Creator, Who creates everything perfectly, is surely Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.