Now we move on to the even greater, much greater miracle. The miracle of metamorphosis (MM). This is a process that no scientist can explain how it’s possible to have happened. We start off with a caterpillar that will turn into a butterfly in 12 days. What happens? So, the caterpillar starts off by eating almost nonstop for quite a while. It will get bigger and bigger and molt several times. Over an average of a two-week period, it will gain 3,000 times its original weight. (A 6-pound baby would be 18,000 pounds in 2 weeks!!) Then at some point, the level of the special hormone called Juvenile Hormone will be lowered and that signals the stopping of regular molting and that a new stage should begin. It’s called the chrysalis/pupa stage.
The caterpillar (CP) attaches itself to anything from which it can hang. After special muscle contractions the CP sheds its skin and it turns into the chrysalis / pupa. In order for the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly to take place within the pupa, the caterpillar begins by releasing special enzymes that literally dissolves nearly all of its own body. What’s left inside after about five days in the chrysalis is mostly just a very nutrient rich soup [it’s actually more like gook] from which the butterfly will begin to form. However, these are smart enzymes and they “know” the few parts of the CP that they should leave untouched. How can an accident know what parts of the CP it should digest into a real mush, and what parts to be careful with and leave untouched??
Now back when it was first a caterpillar it seems that SOMEONE was already planning to have the CP soon turn into a butterfly (BF). You see, found in the CP are special packets of cells called imaginal discs. While in the CP stage they are basically inactive. Who put them there to just sit around and wait for a later stage? Then during the pupa period, the dissolving enzymes “know” not to touch these imaginal discs. Then amazingly enough, the imaginal disks use the nutrients from the digested body of the caterpillar to form into different parts of the butterfly’s body, with different disks forming into different tissues.
For instance, there are imaginal disks that will form the legs, antennae, four amazing beautiful wings with its intricate arrangement of veins, to be used by this aerodynamic BF, and other specific organs of the butterfly. These different body parts made from the separate individual imaginal discs will all SOMEHOW come together to form a perfectly working BF!! The amazing planning and the amazing construction out of CP “gook” is a true miracle. (I once punctured a chrysalis and sure enough, out came live wiggling gook.) The short stumpy legs dissolve and turn into long slender legs. The leaf-munching jaws dissolve and in its place is the new wound-up nectar sucking straw (the proboscis). Simple eyes somehow transform into compound eyes. There’s a huge difference in the efficiency of the compound eyes. This new flying machine needs a whole new and much more efficient breathing mechanism for the strong muscles to be able to move the wings up and down.
It’s amazing to learn that each species of butterfly creates its own unique color patterns by making myriads of minute scales of different colors in unique beautiful arrangements. How can an accident know how to have colors overlapping each other in a perfect pattern? [Like on the feathers of a peacock. How is it even remotely possible in a quadrillion years to have such perfect symmetric coloring and beauty by accident????? It’s total insanity.] The digestive system is renewed since now it’s doesn’t eat anymore, it just sips nectar. And there are much more amazing changes as well. ALL THESE MECHANISMS HAD TO WORK THE FIRST TIME OR THE SPECIE WOULD NEVER HAVE COME ABOUT. This is clearly on open miracle and scientist have no viable explanation as to how this was ever possible to happen. This remodeling can be loosely compared to a major home remodeling. During this “quiet” pupal stage, much of the caterpillar’s digestive tract, muscles, and nervous system are demolished like a house being gutted down to the studs. Meanwhile, new adult counterparts are made. The old nervous system undergoes drastic reorganization (the nerve cells that aren’t destroyed are rearranged) resulting in a very different nervous system. This would correspond to the rewiring of the house, etc.
However, the comparison to a remodel, really fails to paint the full picture. After the typical demolition of a house, all the debris is hauled to the dump, and new building materials must be brought in from the outside. Not so in the pupa. The pupa is closed up and it doesn’t eat, so all new parts must come from the old materials accumulated during the caterpillar stages (the imaginal discs) and from the liquefied caterpillar parts dissolved during the pupal stage which provide the “in-house” building materials for the new adult parts. Amazingly, the debris is used and “refurbished” into the new house.
All this takes place in about 12 days. The first six days is mostly for demolition and the last 6 days are for rebuilding and reassembling. WHAT A MIRACLE!! Of course, this is not even the tip of the iceberg. The complication of all these processes is mind boggling. Absolutely impossible to happen by accident in any way, shape, or form.