Erich von Däniken - Evolution Is Wrong: A Radical Approach to the Origin and Transformation of Life

This edition first published in 2022 by New Page Books, an imprint
of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
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Copyright 2022 by Erich von Dniken

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-63748-005-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Cover design by Sky Peck Design

Cover art Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur, 1904, Discomedusae

Interior by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Typeset in Aviano, ITC New Baskerville and Weiss

Printed in the United States of America

IBI

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Dear Readers!

Evolution is a fact and there isn't the slightest doubt about it. This is basically what the world-famous Encyclopedia Britannica says, and this is exactly how the overwhelming majority of experts in the scientific community see it as well. Is the majority right?

Of course there is evolution with a small e. Everyone knows several types of dogs and knows that they all descend from a wolf-like primordial dog. But there are no pig dogsthat is, dogs with a pig's headjust as there are no mixed breeds of giraffes and lions.

But there are beings that live on our planet that, according to the evolutionary principle, should not exist. Can you, dear reader, imagine a carnivorous plant whose trapping leaves collapse in a fraction of a millisecond? But that do this only after the victim has touched two different bristles? Or, even better, a frog species that carries its young to term in its stomach? In the same stomach that was actually created to digest its food?

This is the kind of thing this book is about. This, and the controversial views of some scientists in their specific fields.

Cordially!

Erich von Dniken

Imagine the following scenario:

In flight, a wasp heads for its victima spider. The wasp stabs the spider in the back from behind and injects poison into the wound, paralyzing it. The wasp then lays an egg in the damaged part of the spider's body. The larva develops inside, and once it hatches, the newborn feeds on the host's innards. It begins by gradually devouring those parts of its victim that are not important for the spider's survival. This way, the spider stays alive and fresh as long as possible.

This scenario plays out every day. In Australia everyone knows of the so-called Captain Cook or redback spiderhunting wasp (Agenioideus nigricornis:, see ). This small, annoying insect reproduces with the help of the poisonous redback spider. As with the well-known black widow, the redback spider's bite can be fatal. Because of this, every year in Australia, hundreds of people are treated with a serum after they are bitten by this spider.

Figure 1.1: The redback spider-hunting wasp (Agenioideus nigricornis)

Of course, we know that venomous spiders kill other lifeforms, but who kills the venomous spiders? Entomologists Patrick Honan from the Museum of Victoria, Australia, and Lars Krogmann from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, asked this question. The results were astonishing. Both the little redback spider-hunting wasp and its larger conspecific spider wasps (Pompilinae) attack venomous spiders and use the spider's bodies as breeding grounds for their young.

Several other species of wasps have mastered the art of abusing foreign hosts. The braconids (Dinocampus coccinellae) manage to manipulate ladybugs. Similar to the pompilids, the braconid wasp lays an egg in its victim's abdomen, and the wasp larva feeds on the beetle's body fluids. As soon as the larva has reached a certain size, however, it crawls out of the ladybug and pupates on the beetle's abdomen. This makes the ladybug mostly motionless, but its legs still twitch. After the new braconid wasp hatches, the ladybug recovers and can even reproduce again. Obviously, the wasp realm has developed phenomenal methods of feeding its brood.

The jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa; see than the wasp, this doesn't prevent the wasp from suddenly jumping out of hiding and paralyzing its prey with the first sting. It aims the second sting directly at the roach's nervous system, precisely at the region that controls its escape capability. The wasp then uses the cockroach's antenna to direct its prey to a hole in the ground and, like a zombie, the cockroach moves on its six legs to its own grave. Once the roach is there, the wasp lays an egg in the cockroach and then builds walls around it with small stones. After four weeks, a newjewel wasp hatches out of that prison and looks for its next victim. The cockroach is dead.

Figure 1.2: Jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa)

Figure 1.3: American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

The ichneumonids (Ichneumonidae) are masters of an even more perfidious procedure. The ichneumonid's host is the well-known orb web spider (Plesiometa argyra). The process is similar to the previous stories. First the parasitic wasp paralyzes this spider with a sting. The wasp then lays an egg in the spider's abdomen. The larva feeds on the spider's innards and grows. As soon as the larva is ready to hatch, the wasp, which has to stay close at all times, injects a new poison into the spider, which changes its behavior. Instead of weaving an orb web, as is innate, the spider begins to use its threads to wrap a cocoon around the larva. When this cocoon is ready, the parasitic wasp kills its victim and eats it. The wasp larva continues to grow and finally leaves its cocoon.

Speaking of orb weaver spiders, Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini; see the spider must have prompted this: if they are going to make such long threads, they must make them stronger than the silks of all other conspecifics.

Figure 1.4: Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini)

These examples raise perplexing questions: What was going on when the first jewel wasp pounced on a cockroach ten times its size? How did it know that its sting had to hit the exact point in the nervous system that controlled its victim's ability to escape? The wasp could not have known the structure of the cockroach's nervous system.