The Signs In Living Things (part 5)

NIGHT-HUNTING OWLS

All living things on Earth have been created with miraculous characteristics and amazing abilities. We can come across a wide variety of these creatures wherever we may live and we can see these astonishingly different qualities in all species.

There are some 10,000 species of birds—one class of the flawless living things on Earth—each of which possesses its own miraculous features. One amazing member of the bird kingdom is the owl.

Most owls are nocturnal. Night is a time of concealment and sleep for most living things but it is a time for hunting for the owl. All their qualities have been created to allow these creatures to move with ease through the darkness.

First and foremost, a creature that hunts by night has to be able to move silently. But most birds make a noise when they fly. The noise made by the wings of a flying swan, for instance, can be heard from a long distance. The wings of many large birds make a noise as they fly. Noisy wings are a major disadvantage in that intended prey becomes aware of an impending attack.

But this problem has been resolved in the nocturnal owl through the special structure of its feathers. The owl’s feathers are soft, and the edges of their powerful wing feathers have a tasseled structure that enables them to fly. The velvet-soft surface of the wing feathers effectively drowns out noise and allows the owl to fly in silence.

Another of owls’ most striking characteristics is the structure of their eyes. The owl’s eyes are rather large and located towards the front of their heads. In some owl species, the eyes may constitute 5% of the bird’s total body weight. This is a large proportion. If the same proportion were applied to us, our eyes would be the size of a large grapefruit.

The fact that its eyes are located towards the front of its head gives the owl a wide-angle, stereoscopic vision. This means that it can see an object with both eyes at the same time. Thanks to this kind of vision the owl is able to determine distance very accurately by seeing objects in three dimensions.

Some species of owl are able to widen their field of vision by rotating their heads 180 degrees and to see what is behind them. This not only protects the owl against predators, but also enables it to accurately locate its prey.

The flawless creation of owls can also be seen in their ability to rotate their necks. The bird’s neck is almost invisible, hidden in its long and flexible neck feathers. There are 14 vertebrae in the owl’s neck, which is double the number in the necks of human beings. This enables the owl to rotate its head by 270 degrees. The characteristics briefly summarized here are clear evidence of creation.

Almighty God has created owls together with all their perfect characteristics. Every living thing in nature gives us proof of our Lord’s creative artistry and matchless knowledge.

“It is God Who created the seven heavens and of the earth the same number, the Command descending down through all of them, so that you might know that God has power over all things and that God encompasses all things in His knowledge.”

(Surat at-Talaq, 12)

PS: this is a copy of Harun Yahya’s article (with the title: The Sign of Living Things), available on http://www.harunyahya.com/.