Genesis Apologetics K8 Student Zone Amazing Design Flying Things (K-2 Grade)

Amazing Design in Flying Creatures

Well, hello and welcome to The Zone. I am your host Big Wave Dave. So today we are going to finish up our amazing design series. Now during session one we talked about some incredible animals, tigers and the nautilus and dolphins.

During session two we took a deep dive into the world of bugs and we discovered how complicated they are. Today we're going to talk about flying things. Now have you ever thought about flying? I mean it's kind of simple, right?

Actually, it's not. There's a lot more to it than you might think. Check this out. It started with a dream. Today we have planes and helicopters that race across the skies. We have drones with incredible capabilities.

We have airplanes that can carry hundreds of people almost anywhere in the world in just a few hours. We even have ships that can fly through outer space. But it wasn't always like this. It took us a long time to develop these technologies and we've made lots of mistakes along the way.

Airplanes, helicopters, drones and spaceships include thousands of parts that must all work together as a system. They must be carefully designed and built by really smart people. So that they are ready for the adventures that lie ahead.

What about flying creatures? There are literally millions of them on Earth and they can do some amazing things. Some of them can hover in the air. Some of them soar effortlessly in the skies high above us.

Some can change directions almost instantly. Some swoop down on their prey with lightning-fast speed and precision. All of these creatures show design and purpose.

But who made them?

The good news is we don't have to wonder. The Bible tells us that God created flying creatures on day five of creation. And when we stop and take a closer look at these creatures, we discover that all of them have purpose and show.

Amazing design.

Bats: Small, Fast, and Useful

Welcome back. Wasn't that cool? Today, we're going to take a closer look at two flying things, bats and hummingbirds. Let's start with bats. Well, some of you might be thinking, oh, creepy bats. I don't want to talk about those.

Well, I think the reason that some of us feel that way is bats are often portrayed as evil in things like haunted houses and Halloween and scary things like that. But actually, bats are really cool. Let's take a closer look.

First of all, have you ever heard anybody say he's as blind as a bat? Well, that's a myth. Bats aren't actually blind. Some of them can see quite well. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen bats flying through the sky, but they are really fast.

They can go up to 100 miles per hour. Wow. And did you know that bats help control insect populations? In fact, bats can eat their body weight in insects in just one night.

That is a lot of bugs.

Now, fruit bats are good for the environment, too. Now, what they do is they spread seeds and they pollinate, and they're really important for crops like bananas, avocados and mangoes. So there are two main types of bats.

There are micro bats and mega bats. So micro means small, and just like the name, these bats are small. Now, they'll eat insects and fruits and nectar and lots of different things. And they have relatively big ears.

Why? They need those ears because they use echolocation to help find their food. We'll talk more about echolocation in just a few moments. Now, micro bats, they're actually active at night and then they sleep during the day.

Now, mega bats are quite different. First of all, they're big, really big, and they like to eat fruit. Now, mega bats have relatively small ears because they don't use echolocation to find food. They use their eyes.

And unlike micro bats, these bats are active both daytime and nighttime. Now, the world's smallest bat is the bumblebee bat. He's just over an inch long and weighs about as much of a dime.

Isn't he cute?

Now, the world's largest bats are the giant golden cat bat, and they can have wingspans of up to five feet long. Now, just to let you know how big that is, check this out. This couple is standing next to a bat.

That is a really big bat. OK, so bats, they're big and they're small and they eat lots of different things and they're kind of cute.

But what makes them amazing?

Glad you asked. Lots of things make them amazing, but my favorite is echolocation.

Now, what is that?

Echolocation is the process that bats use to hunt. Let's take a closer look. So it starts by the bat. They emit a high pitched sound through their nose or through their mouth. Now, these sound waves go out and they bounce off of things like bugs.

Now, remember, we said they had big ears. Well, those big ears pick up the sound waves. And then the brain says, hey, check it out, there's dinner. And then finally, those wings carry the bat to his dinner with lightning like speed.

Now, here's the thing. All of these different parts have to work together in order for the bat to survive. So echolocation is really cool. In fact, it's so cool that people said, you know, that's a cool idea.

And we copied it. We use that same principle in submarines today for sonar. If you see something really complicated, what do you know? Somebody really smart made that. Bats show amazing design. OK, let's talk about something a lot cuter.

Hummingbirds: Tiny Birds with Incredible Flight

Hummingbirds.

They're some of my favorites. These little guys are small, really small. In fact, they are the world's smallest birds. This is Cuba's bee hummingbird, and he's only about 2 .5 inches long. So if you take a closer look at that picture, you can see that is actually somebody's hand.

We're talking tiny. Now, the lightest bird in the world is the ruby throat hummingbird, and he weighs about as much as a penny. But don't let their small size fool you. These birds have really big appetites.

In fact, when they're migrating, going from one place to another, they eat a lot. They can consume up to half of their weight in fuel. Just to give you an idea of what that looks like. That would be like this young man eating 60 cheeseburgers in one day.

Can you imagine?

That's a lot of food.

So do you remember during the video when it said that, you know, the airplanes and helicopters have a bunch of different parts that all have to work together? They have to be designed to fly. The same is true about hummingbirds.

They are designed to fly. Let's look at some of the features. First of all, their wings have ball joints, which allow them to do some amazing things. These birds can fly upside down, change direction almost instantly and hover in midair.

Now, God gave them brains that help them put all this together so that they can navigate very quickly. And their beaks and their tongues are specially designed so that they fit inside flowers so that they can drink nectar.

Everything about these birds is fast. So they need a heart that's fast to hummingbirds. Their hearts can beat up to 1200 times per minute. That's over 10 times the rate of our hearts. And the same with their lungs.

They're really fast to 250 times per minute when the rest and a lot faster when they're flying. Now, they help them navigate and balance. God gave them these tails. And finally, their wings can flap. Get this anywhere from 10 to 200 beats per second.

That is fast. Here's a hummingbird in action. So his wings are actually rotating in a figure eight pattern, which helps him hover. And he has a special little pump that he can drink up to 20 times per second.

These birds are incredible. If you see something really complicated or, you know, somebody really smart made it hummingbird show, amazing design. It's no wonder that the Bible says that when we take a look at the creatures around us, we know that they can't make themselves.

They were created by God. Now, during this series, we have looked at a lot of amazing creatures together. But I need you to remember something. They are not the same as when God first created them. After Adam and Eve rebelled, sin came into the world and it changed everything.

That's why we have pain, death and suffering in the world. That's why animals eat each other. But you know what? There's good news. Someday, Jesus Christ is coming back and he's going to make everything brand new.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to that day. Well, that's all the time we have together. I'm Big Wave Dave, and I hope to see you soon here on the zone. God bless you and have a great day.