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Moreover, if the animals were infants-animals (cubs, calfs etc) then the ark would not have had to be so big as you seem to think. A baby elephant is alot smaller than an adult elephant.

That may help a little on space, but it hurts elsewhere. Infants/young generally require more (and more specialized) care and attention, and more frequent feedings. This is not good when you have a crew of only 8 people.

Let's say, on average, that each species only requires 3 man-minutes of tending per day. With all 8 people working continuously (without stopping to eat, rest or sleep for a year) only 3,840 species could be cared for. Even if the average daily care was only 30 seconds per species, that's still only about 23,000 species at most. Cut that in half if you assume Noah and his family only worked 12 hour days.

Space is the least of your problems. If fact there's way too much space. It's just not possible to build a ship that size out of wood that won't wallow, leak or break apart. Wood isn't strong enough. And remember this ship had to sail on unbelievably violent seas.

We don't know what the care was of the animals. We know that after the flood, that God permitted Noah to eat meat (presumably because the plants have been killed off). So if man's dietary habits were different before and after the flood, then perhaps the same is true for animals. But making sure the animals eat enough seems to be a small problem compared with making the world flood. But even if what you say is correct, I will remind you that God could have given Noah an ark, but instead he made him work for it for 120 years. Obviously, God values hard work. So 12 hour days aren't out of the realm of possibility.

Moreover, in Genesis 4:22, it mentions that man already had knowledge of making tools out of iron. It says that the ark was built out of cypress wood, but the bible doesn't give the actual blueprints. So, since man had the knowledge of iron toolmaking, perhaps in addition to cypress wood, they also used iron to connect it.

I am reminded of a story of American architect, frank Lloyd wright, who built a home in my hometown of grand rapids. Franklin Lloyd Wright is well known for cantilevers. He built one on a house in grand rapids that was huge and it had no support. The foreman of the constructuion crew didn't think it could be done so he made the cantilever out of stronger steel so it would stay up. It turns out that the stronger steel made the cantilever fail (and it is now supported as a result) and that if the foreman used the material FL Wright wanted, we now know that the cantilever would have worked out as planned. If FL Wright can design buildings that other "experts" think won't work, just think what God can design that human "experts" think won't work.

regards,

Ivory