Thinking Eggs

In Central America, there is a frog called the red-eyed tree frog that lays its eggs in trees that hang over ponds. One of the major enemies of the red-eyed tree frog is the cat-eyed snake. This snake will grab a batch of frog eggs and rip off sections of the jelly-like mass of eggs. The eggs have developed a way of avoiding this situation.

Once the eggs reach an age of five days, the embryos can escape the snake. Normal incubation requires seven days; however, when the snake starts tearing off sections of eggs, the embryos begin wriggling furiously inside their eggs. The eggs hatch and the embryos which are now tadpoles fall into the water.

Karen Warkentin, of the University of Texas, says, "We usually think that eggs just sit there, that they don't have any behavior. But these embryos are clearly behaving." We would suggest that there is a design to this system which allows the eggs a level of survival that keeps the species surviving. Design of this kind is programmed and speaks eloquently of the master plan of life.

Back to Contents Does God Exist?, March/April 1996