Penguin puzzle

Creation Archive > Volume 14 Issue 4 > Penguin puzzle

	First published: Creation 14(4):51 September 1992 Browse this issue

by Robert Doolan

Scientists have long been mystified by the ability of penguins to find their way back to land from far out at sea. Ocean currents can carry the penguins a long way from their colonies. Yet the birds seem to know the direction back, with no clear landmarks to guide them home.¹

Curious researchers took some penguins into a flat, featureless area in the interior of Antarctica to see if the birds could find their way home.

When released, the penguins looked around, then set off in the right direction to their colonies. As long as the sun was out, they kept heading the right way. But whenever the sky became very cloudy, the penguins seemed confused and wandered around aimlessly.²

The researchers concluded that the penguins must use the sun to orientate themselves at sea also.³ But they still don’t understand this ability.

Penguins at sea with no idea how to get back to their breeding colony would quickly become extinct. The theory of evolution has no easy explanation for their amazing navigational ability. But a very reasonable explanation for the penguins’ continued existence is that God the Creator has endowed them with their special ability—simply to equip them for their particular way of life.

References

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 15, 1991, p. 21.
2. The Evolution of Life (eds Gamlin and Vines), Guild Publishing, London, 1986, p. 223.
3. Same as Ref. 1.

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