This Article: (8 Pages)
- 1. Honey Bees challenge Evolution
- 2. Bees are Irreducibly Complex
- 3. Non-Reducible Interdependence
- 4. Arguments for Intelligent Design
- 5. Intelligent Design Supports a... Creator's Existence
- 6. Design and Nature: by a qualified... Architect
- 7. The Golden Ratio in Plants
- 8. The Golden Ratio an argument for... design in nature
2) Bees are Irreducibly Complex
Not only is the honeycomb an amazing feat of engineering, but the bee itself is an insect that displays an intricate design. The wax in the cells in the honeycomb is made from special glands in the abdomen of the bee. They chew the wax, which is mouldable to make the cells. The design of the hair on the bee's body allows them to collect an electrostatic charge when they fly. This helps in the pollen collection process, showing how well integrated the overall design is.
A Complex Social System
There are about 16,000 species of bee. Despite differences all bee colonies have a very complex social system. The queen bee in a colony of about 50,000 bees is the only fertile female. The males are the drones and the females are known as worker bees and they all have specific roles to play and it requires the work of all classes of the bees to maintain the production of honey. Worker bees are sterile females. They build the nest, maintain it, collect food, make honey and raise the young. Drones mate with the queen and the queen rules the nest producing a chemical that suppresses the reproductive system of the workers. Worker bees live for about six weeks, during which time they undertake different roles. Firstly they act as nurse bees, then they maintain the hive and make their first flights. Finally they become foragers, collecting nectar and pollen from flowers.
Designed to survive
The bees detect air pressure and know it will rain when there is a fall in air pressure. They will then stay in their hives, thus ensuring their survival. If this had been an evolutionary process, the most likely outcome would have been the demise of the honey bee through the elements of the weather.
The bee has two stomachs, one for its food to supply it with its own food source and to give it energy to fly long distances at an estimated speed of 20mph/32kph, and, the other stomach is the honey stomach which stores the nectar that will ultimately be converted to honey after undergoing a number of chemical processes in the stomach and the removal of additional water from the honey in the hive through the work of the bees. Not only is the pollen collected by the bees, but work follows by the networking of the bees and chemical processes to convert it to honey This production chain again is a sign of intelligent design and not a result of mere chance. The hive is subject to climate control. The worker bees control temperature. By fanning their wings, cool air is blown into the hive. Honey bee larvae die if the temperature in the hive rises above 36 degrees/ 97 degrees fahrenheit. If overheating does occur the worker bees spread drops of water over the cells to cool them down. The bee is specifically designed to carry out very complex functions which do not argue for the result of pure chance or an evolutionary process.
Bees communicate in a sophisticated language
Bees work as a highly organised team. If a bee finds a good place to forage, it returns to the hive and communicates to other bees the location of the source of food. It uses a special dance to indicate where the food is and the distance to the food source. The bee employs not one but at least two dances. A round dance indicates that the food is close by and the faster the dance, the more food there is available. A figure of eight dance indicates distance through the speed of the dance and the angle of its waggle shows the direction of the flowers in relation to the sun. They are dependent upon each other and any break down in the society's structure and methods of communication would lead to the failure of the whole network in the production of honey.
The development of communication has always been troublesome to evolutionists. The reason being that communication relies on both parties having a shared understanding, common receptive processes and fully developed physical characteristics. In the context of a bee, it had to develop both eyes and a brain capacity to understand visual signals and interpret them simultaneously. In terms of probability the development of two separate features is unlikely. Therefore it seems more likely that the bee was created fully developed.
Show All
