You made great additions to this thread, Muman613!
Now I am going into a bit of unchartered territory, by talking a bit about what can we learn from the animal world, regarding animals that the Bible or our Sages did not directly discuss.
The following is an excerpt from a longer article at
http://www.innernet.org.il/article.php?aid=42588 Hours Non-Stop by Avrohom Katz
Excerpted from "OUR AMAZING WORLD" - wonders of the world hidden below the surface. Published by ArtScroll/Mesorah.
The world is full of amazing, wonders of creation. Have you ever traveled by plane, looked out the window, seen an expanse of featureless sea beneath you ― and wondered where you were? How on earth should you know? You only hope that up front, in the pilot's cabin, the navigator is not looking out his window and asking the same question!
Everyone understands that without the most sophisticated navigational aids and instruments it is impossible to travel accurately over long distances. What, therefore, would you say about the possibility of traveling from Alaska to Hawaii? The journey is over anonymous ocean, and there are no islands in midroute for stopping off to ask the way or to rest. How would you like to undertake the trip, with no map or compass to assist you?
Impossible? Perhaps for a human, but not for a bird. Bear in mind that birds have very small brains compared to humans (the term "birdbrain," when applied to humans, is not a compliment). Their ability to learn is severely limited. They are born, however, with instincts which are so complex that to this very day they defy comprehension.
Consider, for example, the winter vacation of the "Golden Plover." This bird lives in Alaska during the summer months. When the winter approaches, it sets off on its epic voyage to Hawaii. This involves a nonstop flight which takes it across the open sea, where no island punctuates the watery expanse. In addition, the bird cannot swim, so that a stop for a rest is impossible. The flight is a distance of at least 2,500 miles (depending on its starting-off point), lasts 88 hours, and involves no less than a quarter-million consecutive wing beats!
Now everyone knows that one of the chief limiting factors for nonstop air travel by plane is the difficulty in carrying sufficient fuel. How then does the Golden Plover carry sufficient fuel to burn enough energy to enable it to fly for 88 hours nonstop?
To ensure the necessary flying capacity, the bird must be of as light a build as possible, and excess weight must be avoided at all costs. (Think of the stringent rules employed by airlines to reduce overweight.) Likewise, use of fuel has to be as economical as possible.
The first step is to choose the most economical cruising speed. Should the bird fly too slowly, it would consume too much fuel simply to stay airborne. If it flies too quickly, it wastes too much energy overcoming wind resistance. If the bird knew about these facts, it would be able to fly as efficiently as possible!
The fact is that each bird has an optimum speed, depending on the aerodynamic construction of its fuselage and wings. It is a known fact that birds gear themselves exactly to this energy-saving speed. Who provided them with the information?
Consider some further amazing details. The bird's starting weight is 7 ounces, of which 2.5 ounces are stored as layers of fat to be used as fuel. It is known that the Golden Plover converts 0.6 percent per hour of its current body weight into energy and heat. If you calculate this over a period of 88 hours, you will find that the Golden Plover has used almost 3 ounces of fuel. This is more than the available 2.5 ounces! Bear in mind that the bird itself cannot fall below 4.5 ounces. Thus, in spite of flying at the speed which minimizes his fuel consumption, the bird does not have enough fuel to reach Hawaii.
Why does it not crash into the sea a good 500 miles before it reaches its destination, when it should have run out of fuel?
The answer is breathtaking. The same Designer Who gave the bird its aerodynamic shape gave the bird a vital piece of information: not to fly singly, but in V-formation. In V-formation it saves 23 percent of its energy - enough to reach its winter quarters safely.
But that is not all. The extra power saved by flying in this manner will leave the Golden Plover with one-quarter ounce of fat in reserve after 88 hours of flying. Do not for one moment think that this extra fuel is superfluous. It has been included so that the bird reaches its destination even against a contrary wind. The extent of intelligence is breathtaking.
The moral I wish to draw from this bird, although there is more than one, is that you can do difficult tasks more effectively if you team up with others that also have the same goal, just as the Golden Plover bird saves 23% of its energy, which is crucial, by flying in a V formation.
This moral is also based on Torah sources, but it is good to see the moral of "teamwork" also being expressed in nature.
Topic: The Bible expects that we learn good character traits from the ways of nature (Read 2743 times)