Articles

Astonishing Acrobatics—Dragonflies

by Jonathan Sarfati

Dragonflies have long been known to be exquisite fliers. And recent research shows that they can track other insects with incredibly intricate manoeuvring that makes them appear stationary to their target. (1) Insects’ compound eyes are good at detecting the slightest motion, (2) so the flight patterns must have amazing control systems. Appearing stationary would be very useful for sneaking up on other insects or for eluding a predator.

A brief report in New Scientist said, ‘Dragonflies overshadow their enemies in complex manoeuvres that military fighter pilots can only dream of. … It demands exquisite position sensing and control.’ (3) The researcher, Akiko Mizutani, of the Centre for Visual Science at the Australian National University in Canberra, said, ‘This sort of performance is extremely hard to achieve without very expensive and bulky measurement systems.’ (3)

A few weeks later, two researchers at the University of London programmed missiles in a computer war game to model the dragonflies’ motion camouflage manoeuvres. The missiles could get far closer to the target before being detected. They used a neural network computer program, and the British Ministry of Defence has expressed interest. (4)

What the most ingenious human designers can’t achieve with bulky systems, the dragonfly’s Maker programmed into the tiny dragonfly brain. Yet evolutionists believe that this evolved by time and chance—and in what they call the ‘oldest airborne predator’!

So how does this fit with the biblical teaching of death as the result of the Fall of Adam? First, insects are not ‘living’ in the sense of being ‘soulish’, as vertebrates are—the Bible never calls them nephesh chayyah (Hebrew for ‘living souls/creatures’). Second, this amazing design could have a non-predation-related function of, for example, catching up to a mate. Third, this could have been a latent feature programmed into the genes by the Creator who foreknew the Fall. (5)

References

1. Mizutani, A. et al., Motion camouflage in dragonflies, Nature423(6940):604, 5 June 2003.
2. E.g. by ingenious programming to measure optic flow—see Sarfati, J., Can it bee?Creation25(2):44–45, 2003; after Esch, H.E. et al., Honeybee dances communicate distances measured by optic flow, Nature411(6837):581–583, 31 May 2001.
3. Anon., How stealthy insects outsmart their foe, New Scientist178(2398):26, 7 June 2003.
4. Graham-Rowe, D., You’ll never see it coming ... , New Scientist178(2401):18–19, 28 June 2003.
5. See also Batten, D. (Ed.), Ham, K., Sarfati, J. and Wieland, C., The Answers Book, Master Books, Arkansas, USA; Triune Press, Brisbane, Australia, 1999; and Q&A: Genesis—Curse.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i4/dragonflies.asp