Perhaps you have heard of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” But, did you know there are actually different categories of this title—the seven wonders of the ancient world, the seven wonders of the medieval mind, the seven wonders of the modern world, and so on? Perhaps the most amazing of these categories is the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Why? Because instead of showcasing the abilities and brainpower of humans throughout the ages, the seven natural wonders give us an insight into the awesome and incredible creative powers of God, who ultimately created the ability for man to produce the other “wonders.”

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World have been designated as the following: Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Paricutin Volcano and The Northern Lights. We will first take a look at the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of Australia; then, on the following page, we will examine a second natural wonder.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, stretching about 1,430 miles (2,300 kilometers) long and covering over 134,000 square miles. That is considerably larger than the countries of the United Kingdom, New Zealand or Italy, and roughly half the size of the state of Texas!

But, before we get ahead of ourselves, what is a coral reef system? In the case of the Great Barrier Reef, it is approximately 5% coral reefs, a framework of ridges and mounds underwater consisting of limestone deposited from the skeletons of countless millions of tiny ocean organisms. The other roughly 95% of the Great Barrier Reef consists of a small percentage of islands, and the rest is mainly seabed in and amongst the 2,900 separate coral reefs.

This huge ecosystem provides a variety of different environments for a variety of different species to call home. For example, six out of seven of the world’s marine turtles, 1,500 out of 13,000 of the world’s marine fish, 500 species of seaweed, 360 species of hard corals, 125 species of sharks and rays, and 200 species of birds all live within the Reef.

“There are more different species of animals and plants in a cubic metre of the Great Barrier Reef, than in any other environment in the world – including tropical rainforests. In fact, some reefs in the Great Barrier Reef have more different fish types than in the entire Caribbean Ocean,” stated marine biologist Robin Aiello.

Truly, the Great Barrier Reef is one of God’s great wonders of the world!

Source: www.gbrmpa.gov.au