The Deluge Revisited ... Once More

Noah in his Ark waiting for the Deluge.
The story of The Deluge has many interpretations.
The story of the Deluge is a narrative that is mythical for many, however historically true for millions.

The Deluge In The Light Of Modern Science, by William Denton is a critical analysis of this story as it is found in the Christian Bible.

A few extracts of his commentaries are sufficient to grasp Denton's style:
"Noah, his family, and the animals, went in seven days before this time, and left the ark the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the second month, and the twenty-seventh day of the month. They were therefore in the ark for one year and seventeen days.What a quantity of hay would be required, the material most easily obtained!"
"An elephant eats four hundred pounds of hay in twenty-four hours. Since there are two species of elephants, the African and the Indian, there must have been four elephants in the ark; and, supposing them to live upon hay, they would require three hundred tons."
"Many animals live upon insects; and this must have been the most difficult part of the provision to procure. There are nineteen species of goatsuckers; and there must have been in the ark two hundred and sixtysix individuals. These birds feed upon flies, moths, beetles, and other insects. What an innumerable multitude must have been provided for the goatsuckers alone! But there are a hundred and thirty-seven species of fly-catchers; and Noah must have had a fly-catcher family of nineteen hundred and eighteen individuals to supply with appropriate food. There are thirty-seven species of bee-eaters; and there must have been five hundred and eighteen of these birds to supply with bees. A very large apiary would be required to supply their needs."

The cover page of the EBook The Deluge In The Light Of Modern Science.
The Deluge In The Light Of Modern Science.
Denton concentrates his analysis of the narrative of the Deluge on the many difficulties Noah had when collecting the animals for his Ark:
"How could the ostriches of Africa, the emus of Australia, and the rheas of South America, get there,–birds that never fly? There are three species of the rhea, or South-American ostrich; and forty-two of these would have a journey of eight thousand miles before them, by the shortest route: but how could they cross the Atlantic?"
However, some questions arise concerning all the water that fell during all those forty days of heavy continuous rain:
"It is as great a difficulty to discover where the water went when the flood was over. We are told that the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain was restrained. But this could do nothing towards diminishing the water".