Bios Kósmos Church
Animal Education UnitLuke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
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Meet Our Team
Welcome to the Bios Kósmos Church Animal Department
Nick ClarkTeam Leader |
Rockey Sinclair
Security Dog |
Humans and the environment
Humans have had two major effects on their environment, neither of which is original but both of which are greater in consequence than those of any other single species. These two impacts are expected outcomes of natural selection, but their magnitude is of an unprecedented order.
All animals pollute their environs with their wastes, but only when animals are too crowded does a buildup of wastes impair their health. As mentioned above, the wastes of organisms normally become the food of others and thus usually are eliminated almost as rapidly as produced. Leaf litter in the humid tropics, for example, is almost nonexistent because of low seasonality, but elsewhere it can accumulate to some depth. Pollution becomes a problem only when waste cannot be eliminated. For example, the first great pollution episode in life’s history, which formed oxygen, was a product of more efficient photosynthesis. Oxygen is a poison to cells, but it is also among the best acceptors of electrons in the breakdown of molecules for energy. Organisms thus developed defenses against oxygen so that they could use it advantageously in their metabolic pathways—a pollutant turned essential to most life.
Humans have only seriously started to pollute their environment in the past two centuries. By their sheer increase in numbers, humans crowd out many other species, particularly those that are large in size but also those that live in habitats humans preempt. Humans have eliminated countless tiny species without realizing their existence. The number of extinctions humans have been directly and indirectly responsible for ranks as one of the major extinction events in Earth’s history.
All animals pollute their environs with their wastes, but only when animals are too crowded does a buildup of wastes impair their health. As mentioned above, the wastes of organisms normally become the food of others and thus usually are eliminated almost as rapidly as produced. Leaf litter in the humid tropics, for example, is almost nonexistent because of low seasonality, but elsewhere it can accumulate to some depth. Pollution becomes a problem only when waste cannot be eliminated. For example, the first great pollution episode in life’s history, which formed oxygen, was a product of more efficient photosynthesis. Oxygen is a poison to cells, but it is also among the best acceptors of electrons in the breakdown of molecules for energy. Organisms thus developed defenses against oxygen so that they could use it advantageously in their metabolic pathways—a pollutant turned essential to most life.
Humans have only seriously started to pollute their environment in the past two centuries. By their sheer increase in numbers, humans crowd out many other species, particularly those that are large in size but also those that live in habitats humans preempt. Humans have eliminated countless tiny species without realizing their existence. The number of extinctions humans have been directly and indirectly responsible for ranks as one of the major extinction events in Earth’s history.
STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY
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A Definition of Animals
A characteristic of members of the animal kingdom is the presence of muscles and the mobility they afford. Mobility is an important influence on how an organism obtains nutrients for growth and reproduction. Animals typically move, in one way or another, to feed on other living organisms, but some consume dead organic matter or even photosynthesize by housing symbiotic algae. The type of nutrition is not as decisive as the type of mobility in distinguishing animals from the other two multicellular kingdoms. Some plants and fungi prey on animals by using movements based on changing turgor pressure in key cells, as compared with the myofilament-based mobility seen in animals. Mobility requires the development of vastly more elaborate senses and internal communication than are found in plants or fungi. It also requires a different mode of growth: animals increase in size mostly by expanding all parts of the body, whereas plants and fungi mostly extend their terminal edges.
Cytoplasm is contained within cells in the space between the cell membrane and the nuclear membrane.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.All phyla of the animal kingdom, including sponges, possess collagen, a triple helix of protein that binds cells into tissues. The walled cells of plants and fungi are held together by other molecules, such as pectin. Because collagen is not found among unicellular eukaryotes, even those forming colonies, it is one of the indications that animals arose once from a common unicellular ancestor.
The muscles that distinguish animals from plants or fungi are specializations of the actin and myosin microfilaments common to all eukaryotic cells. Ancestral sponges, in fact, are in some ways not much more complex than aggregations of protozoans that feed in much the same way. Although the sensory and nervous system of animals is also made of modified cells of a type lacking in plants and fungi, the basic mechanism of communication is but a specialization of a chemical system that is found in protists, plants, and fungi. The lines that divide an evolutionary continuum are rarely sharp.
Mobility constrains an animal to maintain more or less the same shape throughout its active life. With growth, each organ system tends to increase roughly proportionately. In contrast, plants and fungi grow by extension of their outer surfaces, and thus their shape is ever changing. This basic difference in growth patterns has some interesting consequences. For example, animals can rarely sacrifice parts of their bodies to satisfy the appetites of predators (tails and limbs are occasionally exceptions), whereas plants and fungi do so almost universally.
Cytoplasm is contained within cells in the space between the cell membrane and the nuclear membrane.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.All phyla of the animal kingdom, including sponges, possess collagen, a triple helix of protein that binds cells into tissues. The walled cells of plants and fungi are held together by other molecules, such as pectin. Because collagen is not found among unicellular eukaryotes, even those forming colonies, it is one of the indications that animals arose once from a common unicellular ancestor.
The muscles that distinguish animals from plants or fungi are specializations of the actin and myosin microfilaments common to all eukaryotic cells. Ancestral sponges, in fact, are in some ways not much more complex than aggregations of protozoans that feed in much the same way. Although the sensory and nervous system of animals is also made of modified cells of a type lacking in plants and fungi, the basic mechanism of communication is but a specialization of a chemical system that is found in protists, plants, and fungi. The lines that divide an evolutionary continuum are rarely sharp.
Mobility constrains an animal to maintain more or less the same shape throughout its active life. With growth, each organ system tends to increase roughly proportionately. In contrast, plants and fungi grow by extension of their outer surfaces, and thus their shape is ever changing. This basic difference in growth patterns has some interesting consequences. For example, animals can rarely sacrifice parts of their bodies to satisfy the appetites of predators (tails and limbs are occasionally exceptions), whereas plants and fungi do so almost universally.
The Annual Animals In The Bible Conference
Form And Function
To stay alive, grow, and reproduce, an animal must find food, water, and oxygen, and it must eliminate the waste products of metabolism. The organ systems typical of all but the simplest of animals range from those highly specialized for one function to those participating in many. The more basic functional systems are treated below from a broadly comparative basis.
Support and movement A skeleton can support an animal, act as an antagonist to muscle contraction, or, most commonly, do both. Because muscles can only contract, they require some other structure to stretch them to their non contracted (relaxed) state. Another set of muscles or the skeleton itself can act as an antagonist to muscle contraction. Only elastic skeletons can act without an antagonist; all antagonistic muscles act through a skeleton, which can be either rigid, flexible, or hydrostatic.
Support and movement A skeleton can support an animal, act as an antagonist to muscle contraction, or, most commonly, do both. Because muscles can only contract, they require some other structure to stretch them to their non contracted (relaxed) state. Another set of muscles or the skeleton itself can act as an antagonist to muscle contraction. Only elastic skeletons can act without an antagonist; all antagonistic muscles act through a skeleton, which can be either rigid, flexible, or hydrostatic.
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CATS RULE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Ancient Egyptians worshipped many animals for thousands of years. Animals were revered for different reasons. Dogs were valued for their ability to protect and hunt, but cats were thought to be the most special. Egyptians believed cats were magical creatures, capable of bringing good luck to the people who housed them.
To honor these treasured pets, wealthy families dressed them in jewels and fed them treats fit for royalty. When the cats died, they were mummified. As a sign of mourning, the cat owners shaved off their eyebrows, and continued to mourn until their eyebrows grew back. Art from ancient Egypt shows statues and paintings of every type of feline. Cats were so special that those who killed them, even by accident, were sentenced to death.
According to Egyptian mythology, gods and goddesses had the power to transform themselves into different animals. Only one deity, the goddess named Bastet, had the power to become a cat. In the city of Per-Bast, a beautiful temple was built, and people came from all over to experience its splendor.
To honor these treasured pets, wealthy families dressed them in jewels and fed them treats fit for royalty. When the cats died, they were mummified. As a sign of mourning, the cat owners shaved off their eyebrows, and continued to mourn until their eyebrows grew back. Art from ancient Egypt shows statues and paintings of every type of feline. Cats were so special that those who killed them, even by accident, were sentenced to death.
According to Egyptian mythology, gods and goddesses had the power to transform themselves into different animals. Only one deity, the goddess named Bastet, had the power to become a cat. In the city of Per-Bast, a beautiful temple was built, and people came from all over to experience its splendor.
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Proverbs 27:23 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds.
- Annastacia Sinclair
"Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.”