The idea of the great flood in which Noah saves every animal is quite farfetched to me. I have heard little evidence to support a flood of that magnitude and the situation where water covers the entire planet seems almost impossible. Is there even enough ice and water on the planet to cover the major landmasses?
I've read reports that say there are around eight million species of animals that live on land and there is a large number of species which will only survive in fresh water. At the time Noah made his arc (I don't know the date, it would be nice if someone could inform me), the technology in shipbuilding was not near what it is today, but even if he was able to create a ship which could carry a load equal to todays ships he would need to have food for each of the few million animals and cages and water and habitats for each. The largest wooden ships today, I'm guessing, can not hold even 300,000 lbs. The animals themselves (16,000,000 which is an extremely low estimate) are primarily composed of insects, but there is a large portion of animals that weigh enough to make it an incredible weight. One african elephant can weigh up to 8 tons.
One last thought: if one of any of these 16 million animals died, the species would be extinct today. The estimate of twenty percent of the animals dying is not unreasonable if we look at the death rates of people being transported during the expantion to the new world since the rates of death for the species are twice that of the animal itself. Therefore the number of animals on Noah's arc would have to be much higher than I originally stated.
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