We must get another idea out of our heads also, which is thinking about the ark as a floating "zoo". The more appropriate analogy is that of modern intensive livestock confinement, where animals are raised in the minimum possible space with the maximum amount of labor saving devices employed. The ark was not intended to be an enjoyable experience for the animals (or the people!). It was, rather, a temporary captivity in which the only thing to be achieved was simply survival in reasonable health. There are many things that are doable for one year with survival as the only goal, that could not be sustained for a long period of time.

The three main ingredients for survival are 1) a place to stay, 2) sufficient food, and 3) sufficient water. Woodmorappe has calculated how much of the ark was needed to support each of these.

A little less than one-half of the floor space was needed at a minimum to house the animals.

Food in the form of hay, dried fruit, dried meat, and dried fish occupied up to 12% of the ark volume. Most of the food was hay, compressed or possibly pelletized to take up less space.

Drinking water took up about 10% of the ark volume. This could have been less if rain water was also collected from the roof.

Of course, ALL of the available floor space and most of the interior volume would have been used for some purpose (there may have been an animal exercise ring). The main point of the calculations is to show that the minimum amount of space needed was readily available.