Was Noah's Ark Big Enough?
Recently, a friend of mine had this picture posted on his Facebook page. A quick examination of what is stated makes one conclude that the biblical account of the Noahic flood can only be a myth and therefore anyone who “believes this stuff” cannot be altogether in their right mind. But then that conclusion cannot be drawn if one makes a careful examination of what this picture posits as truth.
The dimensions of the ark are accurate but besides the animals the originator of the picture has only four members of the Noahic family on the ark- there were 8 (1 Peter 3:20) (apparently they forgot that Noah and his three sons had wives). Then there is the issue of the animals. This person has the number of different animals multiplied by two but apparently is unaware that some of the animals (that which Scripture declares as “clean animals”) were to be taken in sevens. I realize this adds to the numbers on the ark and makes the space even smaller, but my point is that these errors speak to his or her credibility.
A second consideration is a mathematical notation error. While the numbers of the dimensions of the ark are multiplied correctly, the notation should be cubic meters, not square meters. Likewise, in the space each “animal” had to roam the number should be 6.5 cubic millimeters rather than square millimeters.
Neither of these considerations though, are sufficient enough to warrant a different conclusion than the one that is stated. There are however, two other considerations that do. The first is an accurate determination of the amount of room for the animals and Noah and his family. In reality, a square measurement was a more desirable measurement than a cubic measurement. In that many of the animals were not stacked on top of each other but required floor space, it is necessary to determine what the available floor space was. The ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits tall. Floor space is determined by multiplying length and width. It is generally agreed that a cubit was approximately 17.5 inches and therefore the ark was 5,250 inches long, 875 inches wide, and 525 inches tall. Dividing the inches by 39.37 (inches/meter) makes the dimensions of the ark 133.35 meters long, 22.23 meters wide, and 13.35 meters tall. The available floor space then would be 133.35 times 22.23. This amounts to 2964.37 square meters. But the ark also contained 3 floors (Genesis 6:16) so this number must then be multiplied by 3 giving a total floor space of 8,893.11 square meters. If the floors of the ark were equal in height then each floor would have 4.45 meters (approximately 14.5 feet) from floor to ceiling which would easily accommodate most, if not all animals. But the ark was also divided into “rooms” (Genesis 6:14). The Hebrew word translated rooms has the idea of nests or cells and consequently most of the animals could then be stacked on top of each other.
The most significant consideration though, is the number of animals that entered the ark. The author states that there were 3 million different species brought on board which is a low estimate. Of course there is no documentation where this number is derived. Who said 3 million is a conservative estimate and why? Since no documentation or reason for the number 3 million is given I can only speculate that the number is derived from the number of species of animals that are present today. Dr. John Whitcomb and Dr. Henry Morris in their book The Genesis Flood discuss the number of animals that was necessary to repopulate the earth after the flood. They write on pages 66-69:
But a hundred years of further study in the science of zoology has brought to light some interesting facts concerning the amazing potentialities for diversification which the Creator has placed within the Genesis kinds. These "kinds" have never evolved or merged into each other by crossing over the divinely-established lines of demarcation;6 but they have been diversified into so many varieties and sub-varieties (like the races and families of humanity) that even the greatest taxonomists have been staggered at the task of enumerating and classifying them.7
Frank Lewis Marsh has prepared a diagram (see Fig. 4) to illustrate his conception of how some of the typical baramins (from bara—"created," and min—"kind") might have become diversified before and after the Flood. He points out that over 500 varieties of the sweet pea have been developed from a single type since the year 1700; and that over 200 distinct varieties of dogs, as different from each other as the dachshund and the collie, have developed from a very few wild dogs. In further discussing the matter, Dr. Marsh writes:
In the field of zoology a very good illustration of descent with variation is furnished by the domestic pigeon. The diversity in form and temperament to be found among strains of pigeons would stagger our belief in their common origin if we did not know that they have all been developed from the wild rock pigeon of European coasts, Columbia livia. It is extremely interesting to see the variations from the ancestral form which are exhibited in such strains as the pouter, the leghorn runt, the fantail, the tumbler, the owl, the turbit, the swallow, the carrier, the nun, the jacobin, and the homer. Different "species" names and possibly even different "generic" names would certainly be assigned to some of these if it were not known that they are merely strains of a common stock.8
Figure 4. DIAGRAM OF THREE GENESIS KINDS.
(From Frank L. Marsh, Evolution, Creation, and Science, p. 179.)
It is unwarranted to insist that all the present species, not to mention all the varieties and sub-varieties of animals in the world today, were represented in the Ark. Nevertheless, as a gigantic barge, with a volume of 1,396,000 cubic feet (assuming one cubit=17.5 inches), the Ark had a carrying capacity equal to that of 522 standard stockcars as used by modern railroads or of eight freight trains with sixty-five such cars in each!9
Ernst Mayr, probably the leading American systematic taxonomist, lists the following numbers for animal species according to the best estimates of modern taxonomy:10
| Mammals | 3,500 |
| Birds | 8,600 |
| Reptiles & Amphibians | 5,500 |
| Fishes | 18,000 |
| Tunicates, etc. | 1,700 |
| Echinoderms | 4,700 |
| Anthropods | 815,000 |
| Mollusks | 88,000 |
| Worms, etc. | 25,000 |
| Coelenterates, etc. | 10,000 |
| Sponges | 5,000 |
| Protozoans | 15,000 |
| TOTAL ANIMALS | 1,000,000 |
In the light of this recent estimate, one wonders about "the innumerable millions upon millions of animalcules" which Pye Smith insisted the Ark had to carry, especially when we consider that of this total there was no need for Noah to make any provision for fishes (18,000 "species"), tunicates (marine chordates like sea squirts—1,700), echinoderms (marine creatures like starfishes and sea urchins— 4,700), mollusks (mussels, clams, oysters, etc.—88,000), coelenterates (corals, sea anemones, jelly fishes, hydroids—10,000), sponges (5,000), or protozoans(microscopic, single-celled creatures, mostly marine—15,000). This eliminates 142,000 "species" of marine creatures. In addition, some mammals are aquatic (whales, seals, porpoises, etc.); the amphibians need not all have been included; a large number of the arthropods(815,000 "species"), such as lobsters, shrimps, crabs, water fleas, and barnacles, are marine creatures, and the insect "species" among arthropoda are usually very small; and many of the 25,000 "species" of worms, as well as many of the insects, could have survived outside of the Ark. When we consider further that Noah was not required to take the largest or even adult specimens of each "kind" and that comparatively few were classified as "clean" birds and beasts, the problem vanishes. Jan Lever completely misses the mark when he states that "the lowest estimate of the number of animals in the ark then would be fully 2,500,000.11
For all practical purposes, one could say that, at the outside, there was need for no more than 35,000 individual vertebrate animals on the Ark. The total number of so-called species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians listed by Mayr is 17,600, but undoubtedly the number of original "kinds" was less than this. Assuming the average size of these animals to be about that of a sheep (there are only a very few really large animals, of course, and even these could have been represented on the Ark by young ones), the following will give an idea of the accommodations available:
The number of animals per car varies greatly, depending on the size and age of the animals … Reports of stock cars and railroads show that the average number of meat animals to the carload is for cattle about 25, hogs in single deck cars about 75, and sheep about 120 per deck.12
This means that at least 240 animals of the size of sheep could be accommodated in a standard two-decked stock car. Two trains hauling 73 such cars each would thus be ample to carry the 35,000 animals.13 We have already seen that the Ark had a carrying capacity equivalent to that of 522 stock cars of this size!
6 Robert E. D. Clark has recently concluded: "Every theory of evolution has failed in the light of modern discovery and, not merely failed, but failed so dismally that it seems almost impossible to go on believing in evolution!" Darwin: Before and After (Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publication, 1958), p. 145.
7 See Theodosius Dobzhansky, Genetics and the Origin of Species (3rd ed.; New York: Columbia University Press, 1951), pp. 3-10.
8 Frank L. Marsh, Evolution, Creation, and Science (Washington: Review and Herald Pub. Assoc., 1947), pp. 29, 351.
9 Lionel S. Marks, ed., Mechanical Engineers' Handbook (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1958, p. 11:35), states that the standard stock car contains 2670 cu. ft. effective capacity. Also see the "Car Builders' Cyclopedia of American Practice," Simmons-Boardman Pub. Co., 1949-51, p. 121.
10 Cited in Dobzhansky, op. cit., p. 7.
11 Lever, op. cit., p. 17.
12 H. W. Vaughan: Types and Market Classes of Live Stock (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1945) p. 85.
13 Lest anyone be concerned about the space occupied by the insects, worms, and similar small creatures, let it be noted that, if the space occupied by each individual averaged 2 inches on the side, only 21 more cars of this size would suffice for over a million individuals. Extinct animals such as the dinosaurs may also have been represented on the Ark, probably by very young animals, only to die out because of hostile environmental conditions after the Flood; it seems more likely, however, that animals of this sort were not taken on the Ark at all, for the very reason of their intended extinction. Given the correct figures, the math concludes that the size of the ark was more than sufficient to transport all the necessary kinds of animals to repopulate the earth and produce in time, all the species of animals that are existent today.
Given the correct figures, the math concludes that the size of the ark was more than sufficient to transport all the necessary kinds of animals to repopulate the earth and produce in time, all the species of animals that are existent today.