Monarch butterfly navigation: Evolutionary quirk or Creator genius?
Multiple Monarch Butterflies (Agunther)
Monarch butterflies have a special form of navigation:
June 24, 2014
The North American monarch butterfly uses the Sun as well as Earth’s magnetic field as navigational tools for its famous long-distance migration, scientists said Tuesday.The insects with their characteristic orange-and-black wings flutter thousands of kilometres each year from the United States and southern Canada to the Michoacan mountains in central Mexico, where they overwinter.
The butterflies, whose Latin name is Danaus plexippus, have long been known to use a type of solar compass in the brain.
Yet, curiously, they are also able to migrate when skies are heavily overcast, which suggested co-reliance on a magnetic compass.
Now, biologists from Massachusetts say they have found evidence for this, making the butterfly the first long-distance migratory insect thought to use magnetic navigation. http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/monarch-butterflies-use-magnetic-field-to-navigate-140624.htm
June 24, 2014
Monarch butterflies have a keen sense of direction, even on cloudy days. This is because they have a magnetic compass to direct their migration in addition to navigating by the position of the sun, researchers report today in a Nature Communications study…
Scientists initially believed monarch butterflies only used the sun to navigate to this mountain range, but found that the butterflies could still migrate on cloudy days. Steven Reppert, a neurobiologist and professor of at University of Massachusetts Medical School, led the research on monarch butterflies’ migratory patterns to show that the butterflies use a magnetic compass to direct their flight toward the equator.
Reppert’s lab found that the magnetic compass was ultraviolet light-sensitive and an essential orientation mechanism to aid migration when directional daylight cues are unavailable.
“It adds another dimension to this remarkable migration and navigation capabilities that these butterflies have,” Reppert said.
Reppert used a flight simulator surrounded by a magnetic coil system to test the monarch’s internal magnetic compass, which they found is located in the butterflies’ antennas. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/24/monarch-butterflies-migration-patterns-research-steven-reppert/11267655/
Every year, there are clumps of migrating Monarch butterflies on certain Eucalyptus trees in the Five Cities region of California. The butterflies that arrive have never been here before. Nor have their parents. Yet, because of some internal reasons, they always come to the same area and tend to congregate on the same trees.
Could this have evolved?
That seems preposterous. Yet, evolutionists tend to act like everything did.
How could the need for electromagnetic navigation have evolved?
Obviously, it could not have. Monarch butterflies either had the ability to navigate without the sun or did not. And if they did not, they likely would have died off long ago.
Evolutionary scientists, however, seem to prefer to overlook this and other facts which show that their version of evolution is impossible.
Yet, a Creator God certainly would have realized that the Monarch butterflies would have to navigate in cloudy weather (the butterflies tend to migrate to and from here in the cloudier times of the year here).
To me, the latest announcement about Monarch butterflies shows more about the creative genius of our Creator.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Is God’s Existence Logical? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true? Here is a link to a YouTube sermon titled Is it logical to believe in God?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God’s Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what ‘pseudo-scientists’ refuse to acknowledge. Here is a link to a YouTube video titled Quickly Disprove Evolution as the Origin of Life.
How Old is the Earth and How Long Were the Days of Creation? Does the Bible allow for the creation of the universe and earth billions of years ago? Why do some believe they are no older than 6,000 years old? What is the gap theory? Where the days of creation in Genesis 1:3 through 2:3 24 hours long?
Where Did God Come From? Any ideas? And how has God been able to exist? Who is God?
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