There are 8.7 million (±1.3 million) species on Earth.
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127
They could not fit into 520 box cars.
Now enough bread for a multitude of people couldn’t fit into a basket either. This was a miracle, by definition supernatural.
Now if you want to believe that God MIRACULOUSLY crammed 17.4 million creatures into the Ark fine but don’t try to tell me it happen within the natural world. You just look like a fool.
“...There are 8.7 million (±1.3 million) species on Earth....”
Not even the most learned evolutionist would open that door.
There are two questions to ask:
How many types of animals did Noah need to take?
Was the ark large enough to hold all the required animals?
(only land dwelling air breathing, need apply)
The Ark measured 300x50x30 cubits (Genesis 6:15), which is about 140x23x13.5 metres or 459x75x44 feet, so its volume was 43,500 m3 (cubic metres) or 1.54 million cubic feet. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent volume of 522 standard American railroad stock cars, each of which can hold 240 sheep**.
If the animals were kept in cages with an average size of 50x50x30 centimetres (20x20x12 inches), that is 75,000 cm3 (cubic centimetres) or 4800 cubic inches, the 16,000 animals would only occupy 1200 m3 (42,000 cubic feet) or 14.4 stock cars. Even if a million insect species had to be on board, it would not be a problem, because they require little space. If each pair was kept in cages of 10 cm (four inches) per side, or 1000 cm3, all the insect species would occupy a total volume of only 1000 m3, or another 12 cars. This would leave room for five trains of 99 cars each for food, Noah’s family and ‘range’ for the animals. However, insects are not included in the meaning of behemah or remes in Genesis 6:19-20, so Noah probably would not have taken them on board as passengers anyway.
The largest animals were probably represented by ‘teenage’ or even younger specimens. The median size of all animals on the ark would actually have been that of a small rat, according to Woodmorappe‘s up-to-date tabulations, while only about 11% would have been much larger than **a sheep.
Whitcomb and Morris have given extensive investigation to the numbers of animals that would have been on the ark (using highest possible estimates, and taxonomic figures provided by evolutionists), and have shown that the biblical account can fit known scientific facts regarding these matters (1961, pp. 65-69). John Woodmorappe has expanded on their work and provided an extensive, well-researched feasibility study dealing specifically with the ark’s construction and contents (1996).
-Dr Jonathan D Sarfati
If you REALLY want to know look into it.
If you can make assumptions, so can I.
Thanks