Skunk Spray, Venom, and Parasites in God’s Creation

The Fall: Before and After

Before the fall, there was no sin and no death, so organisms did not eat each other. They primarily ate plants. But after the fall, organisms began to eat each other. Some organisms needed to defend themselves from predators, while others needed to get good at hunting and catching prey. Others became reliant on other organisms for their nutrients by becoming parasites. This is what we see today.

Parasites

Parasites are found in most environments across the globe, and they infect nearly every type of organism on the planet. There are even parasitic plants!

Some parasites are incredibly grotesque, such as the marine isopod that cuts the tongue out of its fish host’s mouth, then attaches itself to the root of the tongue to drink blood from the host. Others are less gross but do the same kind of damage, like the lampreys that attach to the outside of fish and suck their blood. Neither of these forms of parasitism would have existed in a perfect pre-fall environment.

Attack Structures

Snake venom is a classic example of an attack structure. Snakes use their venom to paralyze their prey and either let it die or simply hold on and swallow. Another example is the tail of the thresher shark. Unlike most sharks, thresher sharks hardly hunt with their mouths. Instead, they slap fish with their long tails, stunning them and leaving them easy prey for the shark. Then there are the carnivorous plants, like pitcher plants and Venus flytraps, that trap and eat arthropods and other small animals. Since carnivory did not exist before the fall, there would have been no need for these features then.

Defense Structures

Similarly, some animals must defend themselves from predators. Some rely on speed, others on armor, or other defensive structures. For example, skunks produce an incredibly bad smell by secreting specialized oil from glands at the rear of their body. The terrible smell repels both people and predators. Even worse is the experience of poison ivy, which comes from an oil that irritates the skin of most people who touch it. Such protection would not have been needed prior to the fall.

Why Do Parasites and Attack/Defense Structures Exist Now?

Why do we see attack/defense structures today when they weren’t needed before the fall? There are a few possible answers.

Same Features, Different Uses

Some of these features might have existed before the fall but have been used for different purposes. For example, the Venus flytrap and pitcher plants could have served to trap pollen and decaying material. The thresher shark’s tail could have been used for swimming or harvesting seagrasses. Lampreys may have used their formidable jaws to scrape algae off rocks, and skunk scent could have served a territorial or communicative purpose.

Structure Altered After the Fall

Alternatively, some of these structures may have come about after the fall. Snake venom is difficult to envision in a perfect world. The venom’s chemical structure could have been altered by mutation during or after the fall, or alternatively, the genes that control venom production could have been turned off before the fall.

Reaction Altered After the Fall

In a few cases, the reaction to the attack/defense structure may have been altered after the fall. Most animals have no problem eating poison ivy, and even some humans are immune. Perhaps humans were completely immune before the fall and lost that immunity due to mutations.

What About Parasites?

Parasitism also could not have existed prior to the fall. The parasite that replaces the fish tongue was likely either mutualistic with its host (both creatures benefiting) or, more likely, free living, and lost the ability to live on its own due to its change in lifestyle. There are parasites with close relatives that are non-parasitic. We expect differentiation of this kind in the post-fall world.

Conclusion

While Eden is gone, echoes of Eden remain. There are examples of predators adopting the young of their prey, sometimes multiple times. In other cases, predators simply refuse meat and revert to a vegetarian diet. These events are not common, but when they do occur, they should remind us that the world, however broken it is now, was once perfect and will one day be perfect again.