One of nature's masters of disguise is the stick insect. Stick insects are leaf eaters designed to look like little twigs. One tropical stick insect is as thick as a finger and the same color as the bamboo on which it is found. It even has swollen ridges just like bamboo! Other types have leafy flaps that match the leaves of the plants which they like to eat. Some stick insects even lay eggs that look exactly like the seeds of the plant on which they feed. A stick insect that's found in New Mexico glues its eggs to grass stems. The position and shape of their pointed eggs exactly imitate the seeds of the grass!
Although stick insects don't fly, some of them have brightly colored wings that can fold quickly to scare away nervous birds who want to investigate them for lunch. Some stick insects will often sway with the breeze to make their illusion even more effective. Others will sit motionless for hours as if they are just another piece of dead wood.
Stick insects are even geniuses at using their predator's weakness for their own protection. Birds understand this and will closely examine non-moving twigs in search of a meal. Stick insects will not even move when being carried away by a bird, thus fooling many birds into dropping them. Although these defense mechanisms were likely designed after the Fall, stick insects are clearly not the result of random mutations, but the intelligent design of a Creator.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, February 17.
