Pastor’s Notes March

The star-nosed mole has a nose that does more than smell. In terms of its sense of touch, it is the most sensitive organ in the entire animal kingdom. As a point of reference, it is six times as sensitive as the human hand. The end of the nose really does look like a star as it is equipped with 11 pairs of fleshy finger-like appendages. The appendages are covered with some 25,000 mechanoreceptors called Eimer’s organs. Within the “star” there is a central fovea area designed for high resolution and on the periphery there is a less sensitive zone. Approximately half of the mole’s brain is devoted to processing sensory information from the nose and this says a great deal about how important the nose is to this organism’s place in nature. Not only does this nose serve as a remarkably designed sensory-motor organ but it also enables the mole to smell underwater, something which was previously thought impossible for mammals. This species has been filmed as it coursed along underwater scent trails which led to food. They exhale between 8 and 12 small air bubbles per second onto objects or scent trails while foraging underwater then inhale the bubbles to test them for odors picked up by the air bubbles. It consumes its prey at speeds which dazzle the mind but maximizes the time it spends finding food while underwater. This species recently entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s fastest forager. Neuroscientists hope to learn much from this amazing little animal’s design.

For the Christian we once again find testimony that the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God. Isn’t it amazing that God not only has designed an animal to forage both underground and underwater with an organ that is both capable of detecting odors and using touch to find its food source. Scripture tells us “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created”. Revelation 4:11