It is an uncertain life, Dillard writes, from surviving hatching, to reproducing, and then surviving one's own spawn's hunger. Dillard discusses the reproduction of certain creatures, which requires a series of seeming coincidences in order to reproduce. These various creatures must find very a very specific host, or series of hosts, a fairly exact amount of water or drought, an exact type of food, and so on. The most extraordinary creature to Dillard is the gooseneck barnacle, which must find any piece of debris to cling to in the middle of the ocean in order to survive. Consider the odds.
Dillard is perplexed by the natural world. Why create millions of eggs in order that a few survive? Why not create just a few and give them what they need to ensure.....
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