About that Boat - Noah's Ark

The first thing you should realize is, Noah probably had more then 8 people working on the ark. Although only 8 people choose to go on the ark, he could easily have hired workers from nearby towns to help him build it. Secondly, they don't need to build one. IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE!Over seventy years ago an experimental vessel was built in Denmark to the same proportions as the Ark”but very much smaller”and of the same constructional style. This boat was thirty feet long, five feet wide, and three feet high from the flat base to the angle formed by the meeting of the two sloping sides. Tests carried out in the Baltic sea by the designer, a naval architect named Vogt, showed that the proportions of the vessel were ideal for maximum resistance to stresses set up by the force of the sea. The Copenhagen newspaper, Dagbladet, of 31st August, 1904, reporting these experiments, said, in part: "The Royal Shipbuilding yard has recently completed the construction of a remarkable vessel. It is 30 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 3 feet high, and with its slanting sides most resembles the roof of a house. It is a new Noah’s Ark, constructed after the design of Mr. Vogt, the engineer, the Carlsburg Fund bearing the expense of its production . . . The remarkable thing about the Bible measurements is that after thousands of years’ experience in the art of shipbuilding they must be confessed to be still the ideal proportions for the construction of a big ship . . . the Ark was not intended to sail, but to lie still on the water, and to give the best and quietest condition for the comfort of its inhabitants, and this is ensured by means of the triangular shape. In a storm the motion of the Ark would be reduced to a minimum . . . If the greatest living engineer in the world was given such a commission as this, to construct as large and strong a vessel as to lie still upon the sea, and as simply constructed as the Ark, he could not make a better vessel." According to another Copenhagen newspaper, Donnebrag, the vessel "drifted sideways with the tide, creating a belt of calm water to leeward, and the test proved conclusively that a vessel of this primitive make might be perfectly seaworthy for a long voyage."Three hundred years earlier, in 1609, Peter Jansen, of Noorn, Holland, had embarked upon a much more ambitious project. He built a vessel to the proportions of the Ark, one hundred and twenty feet long, twenty wide, and twelve high. It was found to behave so steadily in the sea and to have such ample stowage in relation to its weight that a number of similar boats were built. They fell into disuse only because of the difficulty of arranging for motive power and steering.So you see, the ark was an extremely seaworthy vessel. In fact, you can read a very technical explanation of why it is here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i1/noah.asp

Ok, first, you only need a maximum of 16,000 animals on the ark. Although, that is the highest estimate biblical scholars gave, 2,000 is calculated to be a better number. Second, the bible says nothing about Noah ever gathering the animals. It says:“Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.” Genesis 7:8-9So, Noah didn’t go get them, they came on there own. Third, now, although Noah probably had no biological knowledge, he lived in a farming community, and farmers know how to take care of there animals. Fourth, when Noah, his Family, and the Animals all finally where able to leave the ark, many plants had already grown back, at least partially, so that there was plenty of food for the animals, especially since Noah most likely brought infant or juvenile members of the larger kinds on board. And Fifth, the animals who got off the ark where mostly different from the ones we have currently. There were two of all kinds when they got on, but some of the animals who where of breeding age probably had increased that number by the time they got off. So, say two medium sized medium length coated canines got off the ark. Now say afterwards then had lots and lots of puppies. Now, some puppies went north where it was cold, and the ones with genes for long thick fur grew long thick fur and survived, the others died. Now some went south, and the ones with genes for short fur lived, and the others died. Now, if you go like that for all the kinds, such as feline, equine, ursine, and others, you get a whole lot of animals spread out everywhere which don’t look that same as they did before. So you didn’t have tigers magically knowing to go to Asia and Lions magically knowing to go to Africa, they just went where there was food and space. But the cats are still cats and the dogs are still dogs.

The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1 that God created plants to produce seed ”after their kind’ (vv. 11, 12). God also created the animals to reproduce ”after their kind’ (vv. 20, 24, 25). ”After their/its kind’ is repeated ten times in Genesis 1, giving emphasis to the principle. And we take it for granted. When we plant a tomato seed, we don’t expect to see a geranium pop up out of the ground. Nor do we expect that our dog will give birth to kittens or that Aunt Betty, who is expecting, will bring home a chimpanzee baby from hospital! Our everyday experience confirms the truth of the Bible that things produce offspring true to their kind.
But what is a created ”kind’? And what organisms today represent the kinds God created in the beginning? The creationist scientist, Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), the founder of the science of taxonomy,1 tried to determine the created kinds. He defined a ”species’ as a group of organisms that could interbreed among themselves, but not with another group, akin to the Genesis concept. (http://www.answersingenesis.org)
So, basically, that’s two canines, feline, equine ect. Ok, you should probably know by know, there were no Giant Panda’s on the ark, just two bears. And they were probably hibernating during most of there time on the ark. You do realize most of the baby animals he would care for were reptiles right? I’ve raised baby reptiles, (and other species) they are possibly the easiest baby animals to care for, with slow metabolisms, keeping feeding duty to a minimum for an animal of that size.
And Fifth, the animals who got off the ark where mostly different from the ones we have currently.
What that means is that instead of lions and tigers, you would have a large feline with the genetics of all the cats. You get my point. Or better yet, release a variety of domestic dogs into a desert in say, Australia, and see how far they get and how much they change. Oh wait, that’s been done. I’ll give you a hint, the ancient sloths were 7 feet tall, and all sloth’s swim very well. Yet again, as I said before, there would be no lemurs, just two primates. So, just follow the trail of monkeys and apes. One, they built a 120 foot boat in 1609, and that also stood up to the forces of the ocean. Plus, other wooden ships of that size survived longer ocean voyages, and they were not as structurally sound. Noah’s ark has been tested and found to be nearly impossible to capsize. Plus, if you have ever seen the release of a predator from even a short time in confinement, they don’t stick around, there out of there the moment you open the cage door. One, the ark had one large window running along the side, providing adequate ventilation. Two, the average size of the animals that would had been with his were about the size off sheep. Three, along with the other animals on the ark, Noah had other species such as dung bettles and others to help with cleanup. Four, it would be easy enough to get rid of excess animal droppings, all that is required is to throw them out the window. Five: The animals would have cared for there own young if they were breeding.
And since you all are telling me what experiments I can do to prove my theory, heres on for you:

The Ark measured 300x50x30 cubits , which is about 140x23x13.5 metres or 459x75x44 feet, so its volume was 43,500 m3 (cubic metres) or 1.54 million cubic feet. That’s about 522 standard railroad stock cars. If the animals were kept in cages with an average size of 50x50x30 centimetres (20x20x12 inches), the 16,000 animals would only occupy 1200 m3 (42,000 cubic feet) or 14.4 stock cars. (That’s assuming your going for the maximum 16,000 animals, if there were less, there would be even more space left.) Even if Noah put a million insect species on board, they would only need cages of four inches on each side, filling another 12 cars. That leaves room for five trains of 99 cars for food, Noah and his family, plus exercise room for the animals. Even if you don’t stack cages one on top of the other, the animals would need less then half the floor space on the ark.
The Ark would probably have carried compressed and dried foodstuffs, and probably a lot of concentrated food. Perhaps Noah fed the cattle mainly on grain, plus some hay for fibre. The volume of foodstuffs has been calculated to have been only about 15 % of the Ark’s total volume. Drinking water would only have taken up 9.4 % of the volume. This volume would be reduced further if rainwater was collected and piped into troughs for the animals.
It is doubtful whether the humans had to clean the cages every morning. (trust me, I raise animals, you don’t clean cages every day.) Possibly they had sloped floors or slatted cages, where the manure could fall away from the animals and be flushed away (there was plenty of water around.) or destroyed by vermicomposting (that’s composting by worms) which would also provide earthworms as a food source. Very deep bedding can sometimes last for a year without needing a change. Absorbent material (for excample, sawdust, softwood wood shavings and especially peat moss) would reduce the moisture content and hence the odour. (Although the smell would not exactly be like perfume at the end of a year at sea.)(I got my measurements from http://www.answersingenesis.org, and they got theres from the bible and deductive reasoning.)