“Oh those West Virginia Hills how majestic and how grand . . .” As the song indicates in the hills and valleys around us in North Central West Virginia, we can see the glory and majesty of God. But if while we are on a walk in those beautiful hills we stop and look carefully at the things around us, we will see more of the majesty of God.
On one summer evening during West Virginia Christian Youth Camp, I had just such an opportunity. I took time to hike to the “rocks” at the top of the hill behind the camp site, and as the staff knows, this location provides a beautiful view of the valleys surrounding our location. Upon reaching the top and finding a nice rock upon which to sit and enjoy the peace and solitude, I relaxed to soak in the handiwork of God’s creation and catch my breath from the climb up the hill.
While sitting quietly I noticed a small piece of green plant moving on my left. Of course, I was not so tired that this passed my attention. Watching closer, this half inch long bright green object continued to move upward on my pants leg. By this time I was sure that this was no plant as it moved steadily upwards. Further examination showed this creature to be a baby walking stick. The walking stick is one of the truly amazing examples of God’s design for camouflage to hide an animal from its predators.
The walking stick as a mature adult is generally some six inches long or so and the body is brown and about the thickness of a pencil lead. It has six legs (since it is an insect), that are long and spindly and are jointed in such a manner as to form right angles with its body and the surface it is on. The antenna are one to two inches in length and enhance the over all appearance of this insect as being just another dead twig hanging on a branch. When hanging on a limb the walking stick is just about invisible and may not be seen at all unless it moves when you are looking directly at it. As the name aptly indicates, this insect looks just like a “walking stick”; if you imagined a dead stick with six long legs you would have this insect.
Well, the baby walking stick is just about ten times as hard to see. This was my first time to see one after 35 years of collecting and observing everything I could in God’s creation. It moves with an even slower motion than that of the adults and is a bright green color. As the baby walking stick climbs or hangs on grasses and leaves it shows almost no noticeable features and just looks like a plant extension.
God’s plan for how this animal would look has got to be one of the most marvelous examples of creative design. In many animals we can see the functionality that God gave the animal, but in the creation of the walking stick, God showed his intelligence and knowledge about how to hide one of his creation’s “marvelous handiworks.”
