Inside of the intestinal track of termites live vast numbers of microscopic protozoa. These microorganisms enable termites to digest wood. The microscopic parasites eat the cellulose wood structure but share enough nutrients to keep their termite host alive. In order to confirm the relationship between the termites and their protozoa, scientists exposed termites to conditions that killed the protozoa but not the host termites. Everything seemed normal and the termites continued to eat wood until they dropped dead 10 to 20 days later. Both the termites and these specific protozoa within the termites survive because of a mutually beneficial relationship. Neither can live without the other.
This type of mutually beneficial arrangement is quite common in nature. It is also a strong argument against the evolutionary hypothesis. How did either of these creatures survive without the other one present? No one knows. According to evolution, termites and their parasites are so different that they would have evolved independently. The mechanisms of evolution do not explain how either creature could have evolved separately, let alone both at once, each dependent on the other.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, September 16.
