Crew could feed and care for animals (Talk.Origins)

Claim CH514:


 * The eight-person crew aboard Noah's ark was sufficient to feed and care for all the animals.

Source: Woodmorappe, John, 1996. Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study. Santee, CA: ICR, pp. 71-81.

CreationWiki response:

Please note that Talk Origins has reduced an entire 11-page chapter to a single sentence. All of Woodmorappe's reasons for the conclusion are lost.

This is an over-simplification of the situation. The ark was designed for a totally different purpose than a zoo. On the ark all that was needed was to keep the animals alive and healthy enough to repopulate the Earth; zoos need to keep the animals looking presentable to visitors as well as keeping them alive and healthy. So zoo care would be much more labor-intensive. Furthermore, zoos have more space per animal than the ark. This is significant.

Talk Origins is assuming that all the labor had to be done by humans. They totally ignore animal labor. They are also ignoring the fact that some tasks could be done on multiple animals at the same time. Most modern assembly lines could probably be claimed as impossible if one ignored similar factors.

Actually Talk Origins is making them seem unrealistic by ignoring important factors, including the fact that Woodmorappe was deliberately making assumptions that made it harder.

It needs to be noted that Woodmorappe was just suggesting general concepts, not detailed plans. Talk Origins is also ignoring the fact that the troughs could have been designed to help prevent spillage. Another possibility is that the animals drank directly from pipes in a manner similar to a water bottle.

As is typical, Talk Origins leaves God out of the equation. God could have controlled pests and kept the animals from wasting food and overeating. This assumes that Noah made inadequate provision to prevent these "problems" himself. Remember, Woodmorappe was suggesting general concepts, not detailed plans.

Once again Talk Origins is ignoring the use of animal labor, as well as possible lifting mechanisms for manure.

And Talk Origins is exaggerating both "problems" and ignoring possible solutions. In particular they are ignoring God, which is typical of their arguments.

Again, Talk Origins is ignoring God. The Bible says God kept the clothing of the Israelites from wearing out during their 40-year trek through the wilderness, so God keeping the Ark from deteriorating or leaking would not be a problem.

Furthermore, Woodmorappe does not ignore this "problem"&mdash;he deals with it elsewhere in the book. Talk Origins seems ignorant of the fact that a properly constructed wooden ship can go years without major maintenance.

They are also assuming that leaking is inevitable and a major concern. The Bible says the Ark had a layer of waterproofing material on both the outside and inside, and leaks can be prevented by proper construction. Engineers have also studied the design of the Ark in detail and say that it is built in a way to specifically handle the tossing and turning of high waves.

One possibility would be to have two or more layers of planks, with the same waterproofing material between them. This would go a long way to preventing leaks and bending.

How many of the estimated 16000 animals would have hooves? This would not be an overwhelming problem, particularly if&mdash;as would be likely&mdash;these animals were used for labor, or taken for walks. Furthermore, as always Talk Origins is ignoring God. He could have halted the growth of the hooves if that were needed.

There are other issues too numerous too list. Especially the larger animals could have been juveniles.