Articles

The Dragonfly

God's Specially-Designed Flying Machine

by Wayne Jackson

One of the most beautiful and unusual insects that God made was the dragonfly. Dragonflies area group of long-winged insects. The largest have a wingspan of 7 1/2 inches. Their bodies are slender, almost needle-like, and come in a variety of beautiful colors. The tapered body and four wings make them wonderfully designed, low-level flying machines. [By the way, who designed them?] Dragonflies can fly very fast (60 miles per hour!). They can hover, dart forward, or move backwards with amazing speed.

Dragonflies have six, spine-covered legs, but they do not use them for walking. Their legs were designed mainly for catching food. As the dragonfly wings its way through the air, it holds its legs together to form sort of a basket. In this basket it catches its food (like mosquitoes and gnats). "A mosquito to go, please!" This is one of the ways they are useful to man.

The dragonfly's head is loosely attached to its body so that it can turn it in all directions (like the turret of a tank). It searches for its food with very large, compound eyes (eyes with many lenses).

The dragonfly presents some very serious problems for those who believe in evolution. For example, how did the dragonfly catch its food during those supposed millions of years while it was slowly developing those spiny legs and skillfully designed eyes? Wouldn't it have starved and died out while waiting for that food-catching mechanism to perfect itself?

Here is another interesting fact. In the past, dragonflies were much larger than they are now. In the Museum of Natural History at Yale University, there is a fossilized (impression in stone) dragonfly with a wingspan of about 2 1/2 feet. This shows that dragonflies, like many other creatures, were larger and stronger in the past than they are now.

The next time you see a dragonfly, look at it carefully. Notice how wonderfully it has been purposefully made, and give thanks to God for all good things.

http://www.discoverymagazine.com/articles/d1993/d9309a.htm