I'd say it was a very real thing
Could Noah's Ark really hold all the animals that were supposed to be preserved from Flood? • ChristianAnswers.Net
Most
Hebrew scholars believe the
cubit to have been no less than 18 inches long [45.72 centimeters]. This means that the
Ark would have been at least 450 feet long [137.16 meters], 75 feet wide [22.86 meters] and 45 feet high [13.716000000000001 meters].
Noah’s Ark was said to have been the largest sea-going vessel ever built until the late nineteenth century when giant metal ships were first constructed. Its length to width ratio of six to one provided excellent stability on the high seas. In fact, modern shipbuilders say it would have been almost impossible to turn over. In every way, it was admirably suited for riding out the tremendous storms in the year of the flood.
The total available floor space on the
Ark would have been over 100,000 square feet, which would be more floor space than in 20 standard-sized basketball courts.
According to Ernest Mayr, America’s leading taxonomist (deceased), there are over 1 million species of animals in the world
However, the vast majority of these are capable of surviving in water and would not need to be brought aboard the ark.
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Doctors Morris and Whitcomb in their classic book,
The Genesis Flood state that no more than 35,000 individual animals needed to go on the ark. In his well documented book,
Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, John Woodmorappe suggests that far fewer animals would have been transported upon the ark. By pointing out that the word “specie” is not equivalent to the “created kinds” of the Genesis account, Woodmorappe credibly demonstrates that as few as 2,000 animals may have been required on the ark. To pad this number for error, he continues his study by showing that the ark could easily accommodate 16,000 animals.
But, let’s be generous and add on a reasonable number to include extinct animals. Then add on some more to satisfy even the most skeptical. Let’s assume 50,000 animals, far more animals than required, were on board the ark, and these need not have been the largest or even adult specimens.
Remember there are really only a few very large animals, such as the
dinosaur or the elephant, and these could be represented by young ones. Assuming the average animal to be about the size of a sheep and using a railroad car for comparison, we note that the average double-deck stock car can accommodate 240 sheep. Thus, three trains hauling 69 cars each would have ample space to carry the 50,000 animals, filling only 37% of the ark. This would leave an additional 361 cars or enough to make 5 trains of 72 cars each to carry all of the food and baggage plus Noah’s family of eight people. The
Ark had plenty of space.