How do diatoms acquire the silica
With which to construct their glassy walls

How do large mammals avoid infection
From the pathogens in a stagnant waterhole

How do penguin parents recognize the cry
Of their offspring in the multitude

How do grazing animals discern the edible plants
Amid the noxious ones

How do subatomic particles come by their power
Of attraction or repulsion

How does one species exert dominative knowledge
In a world it cannot know or understand