Appendixes
The margin in some Bibles say that a more literal translation of "two by two," and "seven by seven" would be two pairs, and seven pairs, which would make more sense for repopulating the earth in a realistic time frame, especially in the case of animals that develop slowly and are in, no stretch of the term, highly prolific. Take for example elephants, which usually have only one baby every three years.
"...the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin..." Leviticus 4:14. "And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord...a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering...And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring...two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the Lord..." Leviticus 5:6,7.
While resting, both the hare and the coney often move their jaws from side to side, as if they are chewing their cud, but they are really just sharpening their teeth. So neither animal actually chews the cud, though both appear to do so. (See Bible Plants and Animals, pg. 48,58.)
Though bats are mammals, people in Bible times thought of them as birds because they could fly. This is why they are included with the birds in both Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. (Ibid, pg. 12)
PCB stands for polychlorinated biphenyl, which is "any class of such compounds derived from biphenyl, which have various industrial applications and are persistent environmental pollutants." The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993.
Prions, or proteinaceous infectious particles, responsible for the various spongiform encephalopathies, are really mutated proteins, which unfortunately infect and mutate other healthy proteins they come in contact with. And because they are proteins, not a virus or bacteria, they can and do very easily jump specie barriers. No drug or antibiotic has been successful in stopping or reversing the mutants. The various types and phases of rendering have also proven unsuccessful. Mutations occur "naturally" when the animal is under severe stress. With the stressful environments that many animals are forced to live in, is it any wonder that they can so readily come down with the disease? This is why cattle who have never been exposed to a form of encephalopathy can suddenly have it. (Moove Over Milk, pg. 103-107; or call 1-877-MAD-COWS.)
Gray horses are born black, but as they age, the melanin deteriorates, leaving the hair white (the skin remains gray), but also, more often than not, causing melanoma, or pigment cells that have turned to cancer cells.
Offal: "1. The parts of a butchered animal that are considered inedible by human beings; carrion. 2. Refuse in general; rubbish; garbage." Random House College Dictionary, 1968.
For convenience factory farms do not have bulls. The easiest option for farmers is to have a vet artificially inseminate the cows with frozen semen or implant either just flushed or frozen embryos. To optain implants, the cows with the most desirable genetics are given hormones and fertility shots causing them to "super ovulate" (produce multiple eggs). The cows are then inseminated and about a week later a vet "flushes" out the fertilized eggs and implants them in other, less genetically fit cows who have been brought into heat through hormone treatments.