Natures wonders: zombified animals (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 10, 2017, 14:37 (2872 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Zombification is a very common event:

http://www.livescience.com/34196-zombie-animals.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_m...

David’s comment: Neat tricks, but there is no way these lifestyles could have developed stepwise. Especially if the system involves a third party like the starling and Pill bug. Or a zombie ant that has to find a certain leaf to clamp onto. The only answer is saltation.

Thank you for another marvellous collection. I’m happy with saltation, but I don’t know why you always think that is the “answer”. The answer to what? As I see it, what is so striking about these extraordinary lifestyles is the inventive intelligence that must have devised them. According to your interpretation of evolution, your God preprogrammed them all or personally instructed each of these parasites, because that was how he could keep life going until he produced humans (though for all we know, some of these methods may have originated after the arrival of humans). Thank God for the zombie cockroach or we wouldn’t be here! Alternatively, if we want to know how each of these extraordinary procedures came about, perhaps the “answer” is that the organisms worked things out for themselves.