Claim CH511:
Insects and other invertebrates were not taken aboard the ark during
Noah's flood. They survived on vegetation mats.
Source:
Woodmorappe, John, 1996. Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study, ICR, Santee,
CA, p. 3.
Whitcomb, John C. Jr. and Henry M. Morris, 1961. The Genesis
Flood. Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., p.
69.
Response:
- Many insects could not survive for a year on vegetation mats. Most
insects are specialized at least somewhat for their food or
environment. Some of the requirements of various insects include
- living vegetation or flowers to feed on
- dry wood
- soil
- dung
- animal corpses
- shallow streams
In particular, a global flood would have caused the extinction of most
aphids, drywood termites, dung beetles, burying beetles, black flies,
mayflies, ground beetles, and many more, unless special care were taken
to ensure their survival.
- A global flood would cause the extinction of millions of species of
insects and other invertebrates simply as a result of the reduced
quantity of habitat. Insect species are going extinct today simply
from the cutting down of sections of forests. A global flood would be
many orders of magnitude more devastating. Given the fact that insects
are alive today, if there was a flood, Noah must have gathered them and
saved them with the rest of the animals.
- The Bible says that Noah took "every creeping thing on the ground" and
that these were distinct from animals (Gen. 6:20, 7:8,14). It further
says that all life that was not aboard the ark was killed, including
creeping and swarming things (Gen. 7:21-23). There is not the
slightest bit of biblical support for anything living on vegetation
mats and a great deal of biblical contradiction of the idea.
Obviously, the only reason to put insects on mats is so the ark
apologists do not have to worry about them.
created 2003-5-15