Amoeba Society

Romans 8:19-21
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

It’s not exactly a plant, but it’s not completely an animal either. It crawls like an animal and then grows fruits and sows seed like a plant on colorful stalks. Sometimes it acts like a single-celled creature with a refined social order. And sometimes all those single living cells fuse into one giant organism.

Scientists aren’t sure whether the strange and fascinating form of life which goes by the inglorious name cellular slime mold is a plant or actually an animal.

In the normally moist forest floor, single amoebas invisible to the naked eye, live in the moisture and food provided by the decaying vegetation. But if the floor of the forest begins to dry or food is scarce, the amoebas congregate. As they come together, they combine into a tiny slug, about a millimeter long and large enough to see. This group now behaves like a little creature and crawls to meet others of its kind who may be found standing on top of each other forming a living “stalk”. More groups join to form a mass of spores at the top that “hatch” into individual amoebas when conditions are again just right for them.

There is no simple life form; even cellular slime mold shows the Creator’s touch in its wonderful complexity and amazing way of life.

Prayer:
Lord, You have made nothing that is poorly made or worthless. You love everything in Your creation. I thank You that You loved me so much that You gave Your Life in my place for my sin, so that I could be restored to God through the forgiveness of sins. Help me to live as Your redeemed creation. Amen.

Notes:
Photo: Fuligo septica, the “dog vomit” slime mold. Courtesy of KeresH. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.