And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23, KJV)
The first chapter of the Book of Genesis tells how God created the heavens, the earth, the seas, and the dry land, filling them with living creatures. Aquatic and aerial life forms appear on the fifth day with animals and humans on the sixth day--a curious placement of "great whales" and "winged fowls" in the order of creation. Evolutionary scientists consider birds one of the most successfully adapted species, found on every continent in as many as 18,000 varieties with a genetic trail going back to the Age of the Dinosaurs. In this delightfully embroided cloth panel, Peruvian Textile Artist Eleodora Salvatierra depicts the Garden of Eden before the coming of humans, a splendiferous paradise where all manner of God's creatures mix and mingle, and we view condors, storks, and flamingos native to the artist's Andean homeland. (John Kohan)