Plants with Perches for Pollinator Birds

Psalm 148:7, 10
“Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps … Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl…”

Could a plant devise a special growth for itself so that it becomes inviting to its only pollinator? If evolution were true, how could such a plant survive until it could learn enough about its pollinator, and about genetics, to evolve a special growth just for that pollinator.

Those sound like silly questions, but if evolution is true, they must be answered, and answered scientifically. A South African plant called the “Rat’s Tail” grows a seemingly purposeless spear that extends near its flowers. Theorizing that the spear might be a bird-perch for a pollinator, scientists closely watched some of the plants in the wild. They learned that the only bird that seems interested in pollinating the plant is a bird called the “Malachite Sunbird”. The scientists then removed the spikes from some of the plants. The result was that male sunbirds were far less likely to visit and pollinate those plants. As a result, perchless-plants only produced half as many seeds as plants with perches. Researchers pointed out that this arrangement makes sense because male sunbirds have long tails that can be damaged by ground landings.

However, if we conclude that the Rat’s Tails were created for the sunbirds, and the sunbirds for the Rat’s Tails, we don’t have to find natural explanations for such silly questions. This is simply another of God’s clever designs.

Prayer:
Lord, Your caring hand is all around us. I thank You especially for caring for me by forgiving my sins. Amen.

Notes:
Science News, 6/4/05, p. 365, “Built-in bird perch spreads the pollen.”