Noah's Ark: Test Boat #1

Over the past week or so, I have been attempting to find a way to determine the total volume of every species on the planet that would not be able to swim for the duration of the flood. This has been quite a dubious task, to say the least.

To my dismay, most statistics on animals report only their average mass and height, as opposed to volume (height x length x width). In addition, the male and female species are almost always different sizes, which adds more variables to take into account.

In this post, I will show you my first (and unfortunately very inaccurate) attempt at determining whether or not all of the animals in the present day could have fit on Noah's ark. If anyone has ideas concerning an effective way to determine the total volume of all animals which could not have survived the flood, please let me know.
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Calculation Attempt #1

Purpose: Determine if the number of 'animals' alive today could have fit on the ark (the ark's volume is 41006.25 cubic meters) (see http://honestsearchfortruth.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-big-was-noahs-ark.html for how I got this volume)

Methods: Use low estimations of the average volume needed for each category of life as opposed to calculating the volume needed for each individual species. A low estimation is being used for the following reason: If the low volume would not fit on the ark, then the actual volume (which is higher than this estimation) also would not fit on the ark.

'Animals' will be divided into the following broad categories:

1. Mammals: 4,475-5,000 species
2. Birds: 9,000-10,000 species
3. Reptiles: 7,984 species
4. Amphibians: 5,400
5. Insects: 1-30 million+ species
6. Arachnids: 75,500 species|

I obtained all of these numbers from <http://animals.about.com/od/zoologybasics/a/howmanyspecies.htm>.

It will be estimated that each category will require on average the following volume:

1. Mammals: 2 shoe boxes (about .01 cubic meters)
2. Birds: 1 shoe box (about .005 cubic meters)
3. Reptiles: 1/2 shoe box (about .0025 cubic meters)
4. Amphibians: 1/2 shoe box (about .0025 cubic meters)
5. Insects: 1 match box (about .0000123 cubic meters)
6. Arachnids: 1 match box (about .0000123 cubic meters)

Note: Your typical Air Jordan shoe box has the dimensions: 29.5cm x 18cm x 9.5cm (.295m x .18m x .095 m). A typical matchbox has the dimensions .0254m x .0381m x .012m.
 
I understand that these volume estimates are a gross oversimplification of the situation. However, I attempted to keep my estimates of volume required per species on the low end of the spectrum (I'm sure you can think of plenty of mammals that would take up more than 2 shoe boxes of volume) (then again, there are many insects and arachnids that would require much less than a match box).

Now, to calculate the volume needed by all of these animals.

1. Mammals: 5000 species x .01 cubic meters x 2 = 100 cubic meters
2. Birds: 10,000 species x .005 cubic meters x 2 = 100 cubic meters
   
3. Reptiles: 7,984 species x .0025 cubic meters x 2 = 40 cubic meters
   
4. Amphibians: 5,400 species x .0025 cubic meters x 2 = 27 cubic meters
   
5. Insects: 15,000,000 species x .000123 cubic meters x 2 = 3690 cubic meters
6. Arachnids: 75,500 species| x .000123 cubic meters x 2 = 18.5 cubic meters

Now, taking the sum of numbers 1 through 6 we get: 3975.5 cubic meters
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Conclusion:
From the calculations I have just made, no conclusions can be drawn. I made far too many estimations and oversimplifications. This post was more of a first practice run to get acquainted with the subject material and get experience so that the second, third, fourth, etc. attempts will be more accurate.

If all of my assumptions were correct (which they were NOT), then all the animals could have fit in the ark easily:

Compare 3975.5 cubic meters with 41006.25 cubic meters. Or a comparison that is easier to understand: 4,000 cubic meters to 40,000 cubic meters. Basically, all of the animals could have fit inside of the ark ten times over.

Remember that I attempted to utilize low estimations for volume, which will obviously cause the final volume to be lower than it actually is.

Keep in mind that the floors of the decks would also take up some volume, as would the food required to feed the animals for the duration of the journey. There were a number of animals that were taken in 7's instead of 2's. The humans also need to be taken into account. In addition, space would have been required for hallways, packaging of foods, prevention of violence between species, waste disposal, tools, and a number of other things would have also taken up a great deal of space.

At this point, the answer to the question "could all the animals that exist today have fit on the ark?" is 'we don't know, but if we had to bet our lives on it right now, we would go with yes, the animals could fit.'

In the next few posts, I will be attempting to improve my calculations to the point that meaningful conclusions can be drawn.