LEARNING FROM NATURE — Dealing With Opponents

LEARNING FROM NATURE Dealing With Opponents ANIMALS face two very big challenges: finding food, and defending themselves. Animals have enemies in the animal world, and so every animal has to arrange for its protection. The diverse methods that animals use to protect themselves hold great significance for human beings, because these methods are natural methods, bestowed by God. Nature teaches these methods to animals directly. It is as if they are students who have received this training in the school of Nature. Their ways of acting and reacting are lessons that Nature has schooled them in. These methods testify to the Creator who made them. Consider some examples in this regard. Elephants and tigers are among the largest of animals. If an elephant and a tiger clash, it can cause the death of both. They both are well aware of this, and so they always try to avoid each other. It is very rare that they allow themselves to enter into a conflict. A war in which the contending parties do not have the power to eliminate each other always ends in mutual destruction. Tigers and elephants know this, and they act accordingly. One of the best responses amongst mammals before danger from a more powerful enemy is to run away. Rabbits, deer and many other mammals use speed as a very effective means of escaping predators. Thus saving themselves, they are free to carry on their constructive activities. Another common defence mechanism amongst animals is camouflage or protective coloration. By blending with the environment these animals avoid detection from their predators. The opossum has an effective method of protecting itself from harm. It feigns death when threatened; it collapses to the ground, drools as if very ill, and then remains motionless, with its mouth open and teeth bared. Insects such as the millipede curl up and freeze motionless on touch. This is the primary defence mechanism it uses to protect itself from its enemies. Even some mammals such as the pangolin when threatened