Published: 05.01.2021.
When building the Ark, Noah needed to overcome some challenges. However, all of these were solvable in a fairly straightforward manner.
1. Building the huge Ark. Even though only 8 people survived the Flood in the end, that doesn’t mean that only eight people built the Ark. Someone doesn’t have to agree with the vision of a client in order to work on a construction project. However, since Noah had years to build the ark, even eight people wouldn’t have had much of a problem.
2. Gathering the animals. Many Creationists believe that the Earth had a unified tropical/subtropical climate before the Flood. It is also very likely that the Earth had just one continent before the Flood (See Walt Brown’s hydroplate theory) So, getting the animals onto the ark and keeping them there was not really a problem. The goal was just to keep them alive in this survival situation, not necessarily to make them feel comfortable during the journey.
3. Taking care of the animals. Many people also ask how just eight people could have taken care of a large zoo of all kinds of animals. Ingenuity is the key to solving these kinds of problems, and Noah probably learned a few skills during his 500 years living on Earth.
For food, God told Noah: “Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them [the animals].” (Gen. 6:21, RSV-CE) Noah could simply have taken grain, compressed hay and soy, as well as dried meat for the carnivores.
One could store the food near the animals which ate them. Installing a central water tank with pipes into individual troughs inside the enclosed spaces for the animals could have made giving water to the animals easier. Noah could also have employed some kind of birdfeeder for the birds, making the job of the passengers easier.
If the cows produced too much methane (methane is flammable), or there was too much CO2 or CO, regular windows, especially the big one on top of the Ark would have provided enough ventilation to keep everyone inside safe, especially since the Ark was probably moving a fair bit on the water.
For other ideas of how Noah could have solved such issues with the life aboard the Ark, I recommend John Woodmorappe’s article “Caring for the Animals on the Ark” and Tim Lovett’s article “Thinking Outside the Box”, both of them are available on the Answers in Genesis webpage. Much of the content in this article has been inspired by these articles.
Woodmorappe sums it up well in his article: “It is not necessary—or required by Scripture—to appeal to miracles for the provision and daily care of the animals on the Ark. Many solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems are rather straightforward.” (“Caring for the Animals on the Ark”)
Sources:
John Woodmorappe: “Caring for the Animals on the Ark” (https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/caring-for-the-animals-on-the-ark/) Visited on 03.09.2021.
Tim Lovett: “Thinking Outside the Box” (https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/thinking-outside-the-box/) Visited on 03.09.2021.
Walt Brown’s hydroplate theory: http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/HydroplateOverview.html Visited on 04.07.2021.