Noah's Ark - species self-survival
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Did some species survive without being on the Ark?
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Christian views - Creationism
Some species probably did survive without being on the Ark.
- Noah would not need to take care of sea creatures.
- Insects could survive on floating beds of vegetation.
- Plants and/or their seeds could have survived on floating beds of vegetation.
- 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.
- "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."
- "How did all the modern plant species survive?
- * Many plants (seeds and all) would be killed by being submerged for a few months. This is especially true if they were soaked in salt water. Some mangroves, coconuts, and other coastal species have seed which could be expected to survive the Flood itself, but what of the rest?
- * Most seeds would have been buried under many feet (even miles) of sediment. This is deep enough to prevent spouting.
- * Most plants require established soils to grow--soils which would have been stripped by the Flood.
- * Some plants germinate only after being exposed to fire or after being ingested by animals; these conditions would be rare (to put it mildly) after the Flood.
- * Noah could not have gathered seeds for all plants because not all plants produce seeds, and a variety of plant seeds can't survive a year before germinating. [Garwood, 1989; Benzing, 1990; Densmore & Zasada, 1983] Also, how did he distribute them all over the world?
- How did all the fish survive? Some require cool clear water, some need brackish water, some need ocean water, some need water even saltier. A flood would have destroyed at least some of these habitats.
- How did sensitive marine life such as coral survive? Since most coral are found in shallow water, the turbidity created by the runoff from the land would effectively cut them off from the sun. The silt covering the reef after the rains were over would kill all the coral. By the way, the rates at which coral deposits calcium are well known, and some highly mature reefs (such a the great barrier) have been around for millions of years to be deposited to their observed thickness."
What about the other creatures?
- What about the creatures in the Bible that are unknown to us today, such as the Taninim (A male and female Leviathan according to Rashi's commentary on Genesis 1:21), or the Behemoth, or the Ziz (The ancient creature that held dominion over the sky in old Jewish culture). Given that the Leviathan was killed after the flood, why did Noah not try and rescue it, was it to massive? Did he simply 'know'? Even more curious a question is why did he not save the beast who held dominion over land (behemoth), was it that in order to do so he had to find an area just east of Eden or was it that these mythological creatures "God" set forth here unto this planet, were but lies constructed to keep balance over what governs what in the animal kingdom? Or was it that our 'gallant hero' Noah was but a coward and, in the end, a genuine failure. For instance, let us say these animals were real, they existed in the Bible and if you believe everything the Bible says you must agree with the existence of these giants of each dominion; sky, water, land. Yet, you would think that maybe, the corpses of these giants would have been uncovered. We know that it would have atleast left pseudo fossils, yet surprisingly enough, there is nothing there that gives any support to it. These so called 'mythical' creatures only have record in the times of superstitions, yet the contemporary sightings are nothing more than a bunch of 'aliens' or some sort of goat slaughtering dog with mange given the title 'el chupacabra'. How did the chupacabra come into existence if there was no mention of it in the Bible. To all of you reading out there on the world wide existence of the internet, pay attention, there is a problem with this question, this is not philosophy on this site, this is subjectivity at its finest. If we want to deal with philosophy, why not start with a basic article about a basic topic, give the different major philosophies about them, and then allow the individual reading to add their own philosophy to start and true compilation. This gives every individual their means to become active within the philosophical group, to become philosophers instead of understanding what philosophers before hand said and not having any ideas of your own.
