Noah's Ark - all species
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Did Noah get millions of species into the Ark?
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Christian views - Fundamentalism
The definition of a species back then could have been different. Animals could interbreed much more easily. Therefore, rather than taking samples of each species, Noah could have taken one of each genus. The number of genera (including extinct ones) could gave been as low as 8,000.
- Resources are needed. Feel free to find and add resources.
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Secular views
The literal interpretation of Noah and his Ark detracts from the validity of the Bible.
- "The idea that all modem organisms are the descendants of those carried on the ark is as absurd as the idea of a global deluge. In the Bible the dimensions of the ark are given as 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in width and 30 cubits in height. The length of the ancient Hebrew cubit was about 17 inches, and therefore the ark would have been approximately 425 feet, by 70.8 feet, by 42.5 feet. A vessel of this size could not possibly hold the 10 million species of plant and animal now known to exist, let alone the food required to feed the animals for 371 days at sea."
- "Marine organisms and the seeds of terrestrial plants would need to have been taken on board the ark because the flood waters would have changed the salinity of the oceans and disrupted the entire aquatic ecosystem thereby killing the former. As for the latter, mature plants and their seeds would have been killed by being uprooted and buried, seeds by salinity or germination, in a hostile environment. Moreover, one wonders how Noah managed with two blue whales (many of which exceed 100 ft), or how he obtained polar bears and penguins both of which live in environments far removed from the Middle East, or the extremely rare Pennantia baylisiana tree which is only found on Three King Island off New Zealand."
- "So, could they all fit? It is important to take the size of animals into account when considering how much space they would occupy because the greatest number of species occurs in the smallest animals. Woodmorappe performed such an analysis and came to the conclusion that the animals would take up 47% of the ark. In addition, he determines that about 10% of the ark was needed for food (compacted to take as little space as possible) and 9.4% for water (assuming no evaporation or wastage). At least 25% of the space would have been needed for corridors and bracing. Thus, increasing the quantity of animals by more than about 5% would overload the ark.
- However, Woodmorappe makes several questionable and invalid assumptions...
- In conclusion, an ark of the size specified in the Bible would not be large enough to carry a cargo of animals and food sufficient to repopulate the earth, especially if animals that are now extinct were required to be aboard."
