Deadly bacteria, poisonous snakes, killer bees—the world is filled with efficient killers. If God made a perfect world, where did all these harmful abilities come from?

The Bible does not spell out the specifics. (It’s not a science textbook after all—although we can trust everything it says about science.) But it does give us some important clues.

For example, we know animals were originally vegetarian (Genesis 1:29–30). We also know that God cursed the ground and caused thorns and thistles to grow after Adam rebelled (Genesis 3:17–18). Later He changed the behavior of animals so they now fear humans (Genesis 9:2).

But we’re not told all the changes. How did creatures acquire their ability to kill? Creationists have suggested several answers, including:

• Originally, the features had a good purpose, but their purpose changed.
• God added new features to creatures at the Curse.
• God designed the original creatures with the features they would need to live in a fallen world because He knew Adam would sin.
• The original features degenerated over time, as a result of mutations.
• The original features became harmful, as creatures moved out of the habitats they were designed to live in.
• God placed designs in the genes of the original creatures, but they did not become active until after the Curse.
• The harmful features arose in ways we have not yet considered.

The three articles on the following pages share some of the interesting things creation scientists are discovering. It appears that different designs may have arisen from different factors, and some may have arisen from a combination of factors.

The important principle is to start with God’s Word, not our own finite perspective in today’s fallen world. The Bible reveals that God did indeed create a perfect world without physical death, bloodshed, or suffering. It also reveals that the world is not the same as it once was. It now “groans” under the Curse, waiting to be delivered from this brief “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:19–22).