Claim CH513:

The care and feeding of animals aboard the ark could be significantly lessened by animals hibernating or otherwise staying dormant for much of the voyage.

Source:

Whitcomb, John C. Jr. and Henry Morris, 1961. The Genesis Flood. Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publish Co., p. 71.

Response:

  1. Most animals do not hibernate, and most of the ones that do are small animals. The large animals are the ones that require the most food and care. Among them, hibernation would probably have been an insignificant factor. Woodmorappe (1996, 127-135) considered the issue of dormancy uncertain enough that he did not include it in his calculations.

  2. The opposite problem of overstimulation or lack of privacy may have been a problem for some animals. In zoos, great care is necessary to provide not only food, but also the proper stimuli to keep animals healthy (Hsun and Menon 2003). In particular, large spaces are necessary for territorial animals to behave normally, and the sight or sound of predators will increase the stress of their prey.

References:

  1. Hsun, Lai Chien and Chandra Shekar Menon, 2003. Animal welfare through environmental and behavioral enrichment. http://www.seaza.org/Conference/7th_conference/scientific_papers/animal_welfare_through_environme.htm
  2. Woodmorappe, John, 1996. Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study, Santee, CA: ICR.
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created 2003-5-14, modified 2003-8-12