MARVEL OF GOD'S
CREATION #9

The
Chuckwalla Lizard

Chuckwalla lizards
are large, pot-bellied lizards which wear a loose, baggy skin. Though
the skin appears to be much too large, it is just exactly what this
lizard needs when an enemy approaches. You see, when an enemy comes near
the chuckwalla, the lizard runs very quickly to a rock crevice and hides
in it. In the crack of the rock, the chuckwalla swallows air and blows
up like a balloon. When the enemy arrives the chuckwalla is safely
wedged in the crack. Though it is within easy reach, it is safe. Years
ago, the Indians of our desert Southwest learned how to catch the
chuckwalla. They pierced its body with an arrow to let out the air; then
the Indians could easily remove the lizard from its haven. Man is
probably the only enemy of the chuckwalla lizard from whom it is not
completely safe.

Of course, the desert is very dry. Some chuckwallas live
where there may be only a single rain shower in a whole year. In these
arid places the chuckwalla generally lives a dormant life for most of
the year. It estivates, or sleeps, for all but about five months of the
year.

While living actively, the chuckwalla eats whatever juicy
plants it can find. Special glands store the water from the greenery,
and the chuckwalla grows fat from its food. Generally, chuckwallas are
dormant from August through March.

Many desert plants absorb much salt from the soil in which
they grow. The chuckwalla receives enough salt from its food to kill an
ordinary animal. The salt would kill the chuckwalla, too, were it not
for its special salt-removing glands. These glands are located in the
nostrils of the chuckwalla, and, as the salt builds up on the glands,
the lizard occasionally sneezes. The sneeze expels the crystallized salt
which the glands have filtered out of the lizard's
bloodstream.

The cold-blooded chuckwalla sleeps late. But when it
arises, it must warm up in a hurry. Desert nights and early mornings are
often very cold. Cold-blooded creatures are slow and sluggish when they
are cold, and cold lizards are easy to catch. For this reason, the
chuckwalla wears a dark-colored, heat-absorbing skin. The sun warms the
lizard before the air warms up. Later in the day, the lizard's skin
changes to a heat-reflecting light color because the chuckwalla must not
get too hot either. The rationality we find when we examine the
chuckwalla's body structure compels us to recognize its Designer. Only
God, Who is an intelligent, rational Being, can account for the order
and design evident in the chuckwalla lizard and all of nature." [1]

[1] DeWitt Steele, Science: Order
and Reality (Pensacola, Fl: A Beka Book Publications, 1980), p. 138.
Christian parents, do you realize that there are science books that your
children can be studying that defend the creationist's
perspective?

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