The Bombardier Beetle

Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”

The bombardier beetle has a powerful and complex system for protecting himself from enemies. Glands within the beetle produce a mixture of two hydroquinone compounds and hydrogen peroxide. These chemicals must be held in separate chambers because when they come into contact with each other, they react. When the beetle is threatened, the chemicals are mixed in a third chamber, where a third chemical is added and an explosive reaction takes place. This reaction forces the caustic solution out through a special “nozzle.” The beetle is skilled in aiming this nozzle at its enemy.

If this system is missing any of its parts, it is more than worthless to the beetle; the chemicals alone are very dangerous. So this sophisticated defense system could not have evolved in stages. Imagine the poor beetle who evolved the ability to produce the chemicals but hadn’t yet evolved the right chambers to mix them without blowing itself up. The first time he became alarmed – poof! – no more beetle at all!

The bombardier beetle is such a problem for evolutionists that many of them have challenged claims that an explosion takes place. The fact is, the beetle can give you a nasty burn. Even the popular magazine Science Digest explained the bombardier beetle’s defense with the words “explosive reaction.”

Clearly, the bombardier beetle is excellent evidence that creatures were originally created in finished form by a wise Creator, without the need for stages of improvement.

Prayer: I thank You, Lord, that You made a perfect creation that was so wonderful that even now, under the burden of sin, it still fills me with awe. However, I thank You with my life for saving me from sin, death and the devil. Amen.

Ref: Science Digest, Aug., 1983. p. 74. Photo by Patrick Coin (cc-by-sa-2.5).