The Fire Loving Jewel Beetle
Even in nature we see evidence that God takes tragedy and turns it for good.
The Jewel beetle of Australia wouldn’t survive without a good forest fire! It needs it to breed. She lays her eggs in the burnt wood of dead trees. Once inside the charred tree trunks and branches, the eggs can hatch and munch on their surroundings safely cocooned inside the dead wood. The young are indeed safe, for any predators have fled the fire. Further, the trees won’t produce toxic chemicals that kill the larvae. After all, the trees are dead!
So how does this beetle detect the fire? Back in 1960, a Canadian entomologist discovered pits on the back of this beetle. After years of study, he determined that these were “sensory pits, densely packed with tiny receptors that enabled the beetle to sense infrared radiation; the heat given off by a blazing inferno.” Though few believed him at the time, today we have discovered these beetles are more amazing than that! “They see the red flickering flames, they hear the crackling of the burning wood and, as chemical ecologist Dr Stephan Schutz discovered, they use supersensitive receptors on their antennae to “smell” the products of a fire - even in minute quantities.” The beetle’s sensory system is now the prototype for improved man-made heat sensors, useful for both civilian and military purposes.
The article goes on to say, “It has taken years of meticulous research by a team of biologists, physiologists, chemical ecologists and finally a physicist to start to unravel the beetle’s infrared detecting secrets.” Amazingly, most of these same scientists believe it all came about by accident. How much easier it is to see the hand of our Creator in making this amazing beetle!