Saturday, September 18, 2010

Cassowary

There are some animals that are just so weird that they're cool.

Like this cassowary we saw at the zoo.


A what?

A cassowary is a large, flightless bird that is native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and Australia. They are primarily frugivorous, fruit eaters, but sometimes they will eat insects, frogs, or snakes.

They are related to other flightless birds, such as emu and ostrich. The can jump five feet, swim long distances, and stomp the crap out of animals or people that get too aggravating, though this is not common.

Don't you sometimes wish you could stomp the crap out of people that get too aggravating?

Alas, cassowaries have no morals. Or prisons. Oh, well.

I digress...

One thing cassowaries are known for is their poop. Yep, poop. Again.

Don't you think there are too many poop references in my posts?

Well, s#@t happens!

Cassowaries eat tons of fruit, in the process ingesting the seeds of the fruit. When the seeds are excreted in their scat, aka wild animal poop, the seeds are encased in yummy cassowary fertilizer. According to one random study I found, 92% of seeds contained inside of cassowary poop will grow compared to only 4% of seeds not in the poop.

As a cassowary sign at the zoo said, "How many trees have you planted?"


As interesting as cassowaries are to look at, I can't help but think "dinosaur" when I see one of these birds. There are books and books, scientist after scientist who argue that one lineage of dinosaur, over millions of years evolved into today's modern birds.


As a Christian I often find myself conflicted over this theology conundrum. On the one hand I take the Creation story as truth based on faith, and on the other hand I take the evolution theory as truth based on scientific evidence.

I taught biology 101 lab to freshmen back in college and the biggest topic was evolution. I took oodles of classes about evolutionary development. I almost changed my major to evo devo. I understand it. I get it. It makes perfect sense to me.

And after seeing an animal like this it's hard not to see some form of evolution at work.

Or not.

Maybe the key is that we're not supposed to know.


Maybe we are made to wonder.