Consider just a few of the abilities of the red squirrel and judge for yourself whether design by a Creator or random-chance mutations seems more likely to have produced it:
1. When falling, the red squirrel's tail and legs spread out to catch as much air as possible. This slows down the fall and distributes the impact evenly over the squirrel's body, so it can withstand a 100-foot fall without injuring itself!
2. The squirrel's eyesight is so exact that it can determine precisely how far something is by a process called “parallax.” This is a process whereby the exact position of an object is located by looking at it from two different angles. The squirrel lifts its head several times to estimate the exact distance before jumping.
3. Sensory hairs located on the squirrel's feet, forelegs, underside, and on the base of its tail can sense the difference between a strong and weak branch and instantly leap to another one if a weak branch is detected, all without missing a step.
4. It uses its whiskers to measure the size of a hole so that it may enter without getting stuck.
5. It has specially equipped sharp claws and grows a winter cover of hair on its feet, which allow it to hold on to branches without faling off, even in a 40-mile-per-hour wind.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, September 27.
