One odd-looking member of God's creation is the tapir. Its most distinctive feature is a highly flexible proboscis (trunk) that is able to move in all directions. Generally, tapirs stand about three feet high at the shoulder, are about seven feet long, and weigh anywhere from 330 to 700 pounds. Their short fur coats range in color from grayish-black to reddish-brown.

A 19th-century poet spoke of "nature red in tooth and claw,"¹ and the sometimes gruesome deaths that became integral to the concept of Darwinian evolution certainly occur. But sometimes animals play. If nature is inexorably locked in a battle for the survival of the fittest, where did frolicking come from?

Just this last September 30, we heard of major earthquakes measuring up to 8.0 on the Richter scale and the resulting tsunami which hit the coast of American Samoa. Many people perished in waves up to two meters higher than normal sea level. Yet for all its ferocity, it paled in comparison to a much greater catastrophe which hit just five years ago.

by Brian Thomas, M.S., & Frank Sherwin, M.A.*

Molecular biologist Michael Behe described a system made of several interacting parts, whereby the removal of one part would disrupt the functioning of the whole, as irreducibly complex. Both creation scientists and intelligent design proponents highlight examples of irreducible complexity in their studies.