Sara J. Mikkelson
Creepy, Crawly, Critters!
Do you have any pets? Maybe you have a friendly furry friend like a dog or cat. Or you could have something like a hamster, lizard, bird, or fish. But, what do you think about keeping a snake or giant cockroaches for pets? Those could be some creatures that you or your family might not be too excited about having in the house. Whether you want to feed them or squash them, all creatures ranging from dogs to bugs (and other things) are very complex and are specially designed by God.
Bearded Dragons
Have you ever seen a Bearded Dragon? It’s a type of lizard that comes from the deserts of Australia. They are usually pretty gentle, making them good pets. While you don’t have to worry about fire-breathing tempers from these dragons, sometimes they will puff up the spiky-looking “beards” that they’re famous for if they become afraid or upset. You’re more likely to see a male bearded dragon puffing out his beard than a female puffing out her beard. The beard is a defense tactic to make them look bigger and scarier than they really are to other creatures that might want them for lunch. In the same way, they look pretty prickly for protection, but they’re actually a lot softer than you might expect.
The word “dinosaur” wasn’t invented until 1841 and the word people used before then was probably “dragon”. The bombardier beetle shoots fire out of its body, so the idea of a creature making fire is definitely possible. The Bible even mentions a fire-breathing dragon in Job 41
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Meet Miss Lulu
I made a few new friends while traveling this summer. Lulu was pretty small and eyed me like she wasn’t really sure if she trusted me. Lulu the bearded dragon squirmed a little, complaining about my cold hands, the first time I tried to hold her. She liked to sit on her rock to soak in the heat of her lamp and sometimes go on field trips outside to sun. Lulu liked eating crickets and vegetables.
Drawing by Anna B., age 9
Don’t Step On It!!!
Besides Miss Lulu the Bearded Dragon, I also made friends with some giant hissing cockroaches from Madagascar. Would you hold a giant roach if you could? I was a little nervous the first time I picked one up, but figured out that they are actually quite nice and beautiful in their own way as I watched my new friends crawl around my fingers. Once, as I was trying to hand a roach to someone else it fell on the floor and started running. “Oh! Hold still! Don’t step on it! He’s scared,” I said. I’ve stepped on roaches tons of times, so it was a rather funny thing to say. However, these roaches seemed pretty special – and they were my friends!
These roaches can hang on pretty tightly with their special feet that work similar to little suction-cups. You can turn them upside-down and they usually hang on, unless they want down. They can also climb up walls
Giant Roaches
The most interesting thing about giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches is the hissing sound that they make to protect themselves when they’re scared. There are other bugs that make hissing noises, but most of them use vibration, rubbing body parts together to make the noise. However, this roach hisses by suddenly making air move through its breathing holes and along the ridges of its abdomen.
Insects, including roaches, flies, and many other things, have three main sections of their body:
1) Head
2) Thorax – middle section, and
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3) Abdomen – back end section
Made for Defense
Both the bearded dragon and giant hissing cockroach have special ways of defending themselves against other creatures that would want to hurt or eat them. When God originally created everything, none of the animals or people killed each other. God said that everything He made was “very good” – nothing died or was hurt. It wasn’t until the first people chose to disobey God that all the bad things came into the world. But, because God is full of grace and all-knowing, He designed animals with the ability to defend themselves, even in the middle of all the pain and death. By sending Jesus to take our punishment, God made a way to save us from the awful fate, too. And just like the bearded dragon and hissing cockroach, God has given you everything you need to live the life He wants you to live.
Thoughts From Readers
CCK is written by Sara J. Bruegel. Many thanks to Anna B. (age 9) for her drawing. If you have a question, comment, cartoon, or drawing about God’s creation that you would like to share, please write to Sara at: CreationCluesForKids@gmail.com and it may get published in the next issue. Also, you can visit www.CreationClues.com to read a new clue each week or read & print past issues of CCK.
We encourage you to print as many copies as you like for yourself, friends, church, private school, ministry, or other groups, free of charge. All we ask is that you respect the author’s copyright by 1)giving full credit to the author, 2)DO NOT charge for this newsletter or in any way try to make money off of Creation Clues for Kids, and 3) DO NOT change any of the content
This is the October-December 2015 Issue – Vol. 4 No. 4
