Trilobite Farmers

Genesis 9:20

“And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.”

The evolutionary view of human history is that ancient man was so primitive that it took him over a million years to figure out farming. The problem with this view is that even the lowly leaf-cutting ant has figured out how to grow, fertilize and harvest its own crops. Evolutionists respond by insisting that intelligence evolved in these creatures because they are social creatures that developed intelligence to cope with social situations.

This explanation of how some ants learn to farm, however, is challenged by the conclusions of a scientist with the London Museum of Natural History. Richard Fortey presented evidence that suggests that the lowly olenid trilobite also practiced farming but is not a social creature. The now-extinct trilobite survived by farming bacteria that were able to turn sulfur into energy for themselves. Fortey points out that the body structure of the trilobite provides plenty of space to cultivate bacteria right on its body. These supposedly primitive creatures also had a brood pouch in which they raised their young. Fortey suggests that parents may have cared for and protected their young until the next generation was able to cultivate their own bacteria gardens for food.

It will be interesting to hear evolutionary explanations of how this trilobite learned farming. But there is no difficulty explaining the trilobite's ability to farm from a creationist point of view. It was made by an intelligent Creator to live its unique lifestyle.

Prayer: Dear Father, bless the earth and make it productive. Amen.

Notes: Science News, 7/8/00, p. 31, "Trilobites might have invented farming."

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