How many animals did Noah take on the ark with him?

Question

This question stems from a previous question. Fundamentalist Christians who believe every word of the Bible is true, how many animals DID Noah take on the ark with him?

The bible allegedly says that Noah's ark was 450' x 75' x 45' in size. However, one cannot measure the square footage of an ark the same way as one measures the square footage of a (rectangular-shaped) house--450x75x45 isn't as big as it sounds, even if it's '3 stories tall.'

PLUS Noah had to set aside enough food for 40 days for each of these animals--a 'fact' made harder by the fact that some of Noah's animals were carnivores. So now it's not just about '2' of every animal because Noah had to have extra animals aboard to provide meat.

HERE'S ARE SOME GOOD QUESTION FOR KIDS:

Elephants are herbivores, which eat approx. 150 lbs. of food/day. in the form of grass, leaves etc. 150lb/dayx 2 elephants x 40 days is 12,000 POUNDS of grass and leaves just for these 2 arc animals alone. [ First ask yourself, "How many bags of leaves does your father fill every fall?"]

SO: MATH QUESTION:
a. How many leaf bags would Noah need to collect 12,000 pounds of leaves needed to feed 2 elephants for 40 days?
b. How many cubic feet of space is needed to store 12,000 lb. of leaves?
c. Does the above-mentioned-sized vessel have enough storage space for the leaves, the elephants, all the other animals of the earth x 2? [Add cages and fences, etc.]
d. How large a crew would it take to care for all the animals of the earth, x2, on a ship for 40 days? [including feeding them all tons of food/day, watering them, disposing of all their droppings, keeping them from eating each other]. Would 8 people [Noah's family] be a large enough crew? [ask your nearest zoo].
e. Given the above factors, how many animals would Noah be able to take with him on a vessel that was 450x75x45--about 1/4 the size of the Queen Mary?

Answer 1

That's a good way to point out the flaws of the Flood story in Genesis.



Another way is to say that in order for it to rain fast enough to cover the highest mountains (Mt. Everest 29,000 ft) in only 40 days and nights, it would have to rain at about 460 inches an hour (if I remember correctly). I calculated it once and determined that it would have to be about 1200 (I do remember that number for sure) times heavier rain than what is considered to be "heavy rain." And not only that, but it would have to do it ALL over the Earth, not just in one small area. Noah's Ark would have to be pretty dang strong to hold up to rain that heavy.



Another enjoyable question: How did Noah and his wife (a human gene pool of two people) give rise to Africans, Asians, Hispanics, Caucasians, etc, all in only a couple thousand years? The Christian Church opposed the idea of evolution for quite a while, so I'll ask: Without evolution, how do you suggest that such diverse groups of people managed to come to be if they are all descendants of Noah and his wife? Odd, isn't it.



Reply to the "incorrect atheist" above: That contradiction in the number of each species to go on the Ark was the result of a poor redaction of older stories. The funny thing is that if you read the flood story in Gilgamesh (which came before the one in Genesis, by the way), then you can see that the Genesis version of the story seems to be plagiarized from the Gilgamesh one (or perhaps other versions). Anyways, the point is that the version in Genesis is by no means the first time that that story was written down. The "two" and "seven" is an example of how that is true. In the Gilgamesh story, the number "seven" is extremely prominent to the point that when you see it appear in Genesis you can't help but wonder why the Genesis author(s) didn't leave it out.

Answer 2

1) his question stems from a previous question. Fundamentalist Christians who believe every word of the Bible is true, how many animals DID Noah take on the ark with him?



We have no idea because The Bible does not tell us. All we can say for sure is that there must have been at least 16 (2 ravens, 7 doves and 7 of some other clean animal).





2) PLUS Noah had to set aside enough food for 40 days for each of these animals



Not necessarily. If, for example, he had a lactating elephant on board, that could supply sufficient food for a great many other animals - so feeding the elephant would feed many others. Also: many animals can easily endure a 40-day fast. In fact, though, the ark was afloat for at least 150 days (I don't recall the exact length of time).





Your calculations ignore the enormous capability of most very large animals to fast for what we would consider very lengthy periods - and elephants are no exception. It also ignores that elephants may not have been included on the ark. The Bible uses the term "earth" - but the ancients did not understand the concept "earth = planet". Like in English, the Hebrew word has the meaning "earth=ground" - which is the meaning we would more commonly expect in a time when the planet Earth was not recognized as a planet. So - did Noah have all the animals of the earth on his ark - that is, all of the land animals that dwelt in that region? Or did he have every single animal species in the World? I think the former - a very literal interpretation, and one that I think more likely than the "earth=planet" interpretation.



Jim, http://www.christianwebprogramming.com/br/

Answer 3

Number Of Animals On The Ark

Answer 4

First of all, the animals did not eat meat. Neither did Noah or his family. When God created Adam and Eve, the world was perfect and they did not eat meat, neither them or the animals, so animals would not kill eachother or be killed.



It was not until AFTER the flood, in fact, it was during the covenant God made with Noah upon EXITING the ark (the promise God made to him to never again destroy the earth in such a way), that God finally permitted both man and animals to eat meat.



So your statement about carnivores is completely irrevelant.



Second, God said to take 2 of every KIND of animal, NOT species. Kind could mean any number of things, we do not really know but it could mean for example that "bug" could be a kind (not all the species of individual bugs) or "bear" could be a kind (not all the species of individual bears). Therefore, the amount of animals he would have to bring on the ark would be much, much less. So yes there was room.



And finally, it's not like Noah loaded full size elephants on the ark. More likely, all the animals were babies or infants, thus much smaller than their normal size, making it perfectly possible that Noah could fit all the animals on the ark.



Plus, many believe that God probably helped Noah by either making the animals hibernate during the trip through his power, or something of the sort so it would take much less to care for them during the 40 days.



Do your research, its perfectly believeable.

Answer 5

you are in error



animals did not eat meat before the flood

all life before the flood ate plants and herbs



life after the flood started eating meat.

you are making assumptions the animals were young not old adults

only two pair were used



the animals were on the ark for a year not 40 days.

every hear of hybernation.

god caused the animals to be in that state

until they left the ark.



most of the animal kingdom about 85% is less then house cat size

most are bugs which are less then grasshopper size.

so yes there would be plenty of room for all the animals and for all the food.



for man most things are impossible

for god nothing is impossible

Answer 6

Look it's simple.Jews used to talk with stories and so the story about noah could be just a way to show people how god saves everything that is good and everything else gets lost.But before you say as the bible suggests that god is only good,i have to clear out that when i say everything else gets lost I mean that whoever doesn't have god close to it is lost.So these stupid things you bring out and say are dum questions because you can't mix practical physics with god's power because god created these physics.

PS.Whoever doesn't believe in the christian god but in some other deity doesn't mean he hasn't got god with him,he just worships him and calls him something else.

PS2.Guess what I'm just 13 and I can explain something better than you do.

Answer 7

Well, I would imagine it's something like when Santa delivers gifts to billions of children around the world in a single night. As Cheech and Chong explained so eloquently 30 years ago, it was the magic dust. A little for the animals, and little for Noah, and little more for Noah...

Answer 8

How many animals DID Noah take on the ark with him?

* Exact number is unkwon since no one (except God) knows how to compare Genesis "kinds" to our current way to classify animals in species.



How many species are in each "kind" of land animals and birds?

Answer 9

We mere humans cannot understand the depth of God's mind. Can you not think that possibly God would have put some of the animals into hibernation during the voyage?



Specifically the bears, lions, tigers, etc - either he would have made them herbivores just for this voyage or put them into hibernation so they would not have to be fed, or not fed as much as they normally ate.

He could have also prepared the herbivores for the long voyage too.



The ark would have taken a long time to build - during this time God was having the animals prepare themselves - they would have eaten more during this time to prepare for the long voyage so they were not so hungary - God brought the animals to Noah - so they would have had to travel far distances to get to the ark - who knows, along the way they ate as much as they could?



You don't have to kill yourself trying to do the math or overthink it - just have faith that God knew what he was doing.

Answer 10

Why are you trying to apply logic and science to the stories of the Bible? That's ridiculous. If there was a God you don't think he could handle all of that? I mean really, think of the other stories. Walking on water, coming back from the dead, parting the red sea, pillars of fire, fire raining down from the sky, water turning into wine and blood. The Bible isn't about logic, you're wasting your time.

Answer 11

What's the point of the Ark if the global flood never occured in the first place.



And LAK, what the hell is this?



Gen 6:19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.



Gen7: 2,3 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Answer 12

Actually, Noah was ordered to take on board two of every unclean animal (animals Jews were not permitted to eat) and seven of every clean animal (animals Jews were permitted to eat.)

Answer 13

The ark would have sank with the weight of all animals

Answer 14

Wow, you did your homework. Christians train themselves to overlook the parts of the bible that don't make sence, because they're too scared to form a negative opinion on it, because then their loving god might send them to a firey pit of torture forever.

Answer 15

what happened was God made all the animals into just one for the trip. Made it very small so it wouldn't poop and eat every thing. Don't believe me ask God

Answer 16

He took 42 different types.



It allowed him 1 new act of bestiality every night.

Answer 17

2... But they were shape shifters and could BECOME the thousands upon thousands of species that were killed by their just and loving god.



No... wait... that was Star Trek Deep Space Nine...



My bad... Sometimes I get my fiction confused.



❀ Evolution: A Short Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vss1VKN2rf8&feature=channel_page



❀ NOVA: Evolution

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/

(All you EVER wanted or needed to know about evolution)

Answer 18

Wooow!.

Answer 19

LoL, a pregnant virgin is proof enough for me

Answer 20

The Bible never says, so your math question is groundless.

Answer 21

What are you on? Sometimes it is best to let it be....

Answer 22

five

Answer 23

none. it's just another story.