How Did The Animals Fit On Noah’s Ark?

When we consider the possibility of Noah’s Flood being global, many questions arise. We begin to wonder, how did all of the animals fit on Noah’s Ark? Common sense tells us, it is not possible to bring every species of animal, insect, microbe, and plant on Noah’s Ark to spare them from a global flood.

More importantly, God only asked Noah to bring land based animals on the Ark, so how could all life not only survive, but re-establish itself across the earth after a global flood?

These thoughts and questions let us know there is more to this account from God’s Word that we must understand. Our Heavenly Father expects us to use the Bible to navigate our way to truth. He also expects us to use our minds to think for ourselves and come to logical conclusions, using the Bible and the world around us.

How Many Species Are There On Earth?

It is estimated there are 8.7 million different species on earth including; animals, insects, and plants. Of these, it is estimated 80% of them live on land. According to scientists, we are barely scratching the surface with respect to the discovery of species on our planet. New species are constantly being discovered, especially in the jungles and oceans.

This is important to understand, if someone accepts a global flood into their belief system. For every new species that is found, it means they must have been on Noah’s Ark in a global flood scenario.

According to estimates produced by young earth creationists, they believe 98% of the earth’s species can be thrown out of the equation as they are; fish, invertebrates, and non-animals like plants and bacteria. Marine life is thrown out by simply stating, ‘they could have survived a global flood in water layers’.

We briefly discuss this in our documentary, “The Ark Encounter Is Not Biblically Accurate.”

Further discussion can be found in our Bible study, How Did Fresh And Saltwater Fish Survive Noah’s Flood? Regardless, this does not account for plant and microbial life that exists today, how did it get here?

Even though there are over 40,000 vertebrate species in existence, young earth creationists believe this number is only 34,000 species. Further, teachers of a global flood believe their 34,000 number can be reduced down to just 1,398 different “kinds” of animals that were on Noah’s Ark.

This is due to evolutionary principles they combine and weave into the Word of God.

God Said, Bring The Animals On The Ark “After Their Kind”

As Scripture explains, the animals that boarded the Ark were brought to Noah by God, (Genesis 6:20). This was a miraculous event performed by our Father, but what exactly was on the Ark?

Turn your Bible with me to,

Genesis 6:19
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

The word “sort” is not found in the ancient text, it has been added to help the sentence flow in the English language.

God told Noah to bring every living thing of all flesh on the Ark.

Do insects and microbial life fit into that category?

I would not consider either of them to be flesh, Noah certainly did not have microbes on the Ark.

However, insects and microbial life exist today, all over the planet. So, how did insects and microbial life survive if there was a global flood? (see: How Did Insects And Plants Survive Noah’s Flood?)

God certainly did not forget about them.

As we begin to understand, God did not flood the entire earth, only a portion of land.

Genesis 6:20
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

God becomes a bit more specific and notice, He only covered land dependent animals;

  • Birds of the Air
  • Small Land Animals
  • Large Land Animals

Why did God leave out marine animals, did He forget about them?

Of course not.

So now we must ask, how did fresh and saltwater marine life survive if there was a global flood?

While you think about that, I want you to take note of the word “kind” in this verse.

Young earth creationists explain,

“Kind” is a broader category than species, and usually includes many species.

That is a misrepresentation of the Bible and an outright lie.

Please open your Strong’s Concordance and reference the word “kind” as used in Genesis 6:20.

It means,

From an unused root meaning to portion out; a sort, that is, species: – kind. Compare H4480.

In no way shape or form can we say “kind” is a “broader category” and “usually includes many species”. That is a gross distortion of the Bible and stems from the need to explain how all of the animals could fit on Noah’s Ark, if a global flood occurred.

With their newfound “definition”, they explain Noah only needed 6,744 total animals from 1,398 “kinds”. With those animals, the entire earth was repopulated as we know it today.

That is not what the Bible explains.

God told Noah to bring,

‘Fowls after their species, and of cattle after their species, of every creeping thing of the earth after his species‘.

Global Flood Theory Introduces Evolution

Unfortunately, this distortion of the Bible becomes worse. It invokes something known as “Christian Science”.

Young earth creationists state,

“An animal kind or baramin is a group of related animals not related to any other animals”.

This word “baramin” means,

A created plant or animal as distinguished from one that has developed through the process of evolution

This is where evolution is introduced by young earth creationists with a slight twist. This is the method they use to reduce the number of animal species from 40,000 down to just 1,398 “kinds” on Noah’s Ark.

With this logic and something known as “baraminology”, they explain,

Coyotes, wolves, dingoes, and domestic dogs can generally interbreed. Thus, they can be “lumped” into the same kind. So Noah just needed two of the dog kind on the Ark.

Meaning, a single male and female dog evolved into the various dog breeds of today, including all coyotes, wolves and dingoes.

To use their words with respect to bears,

The various bears of the world belong to the same kind. The two bears on the Ark were the ancestors of the many bears in the world today, including polar bears.

They use this logic for every species of animal.

This logic is used to explain how just 1,398 “kinds” of vertebrates (totaling 6,744 animals on the Ark) literally evolved into over 40,000 different and unique vertebrate species we have on earth today.

Note: Their conclusions and calculations leave out marine, plant, insect, and microbe life which must be addressed since they exist today.

Does Noah’s Flood Document Evolution And Design Features?

Evolutionary principles are being taught by Bible teachers and “Christian Scientists” telling you it is Biblical. This “model” is not only used to explain Noah’s Flood, but to explain the earth being 6,000 years in age which is not Biblical either.

Young earth creationists and “Christian Scientists” continue their theory stating,

“Changes within kinds are the result of design features.”

They are stating, two dogs became the various “domestic dog” breeds as well as “wolves,” “coyotes,” and “dingos” due to these “design features”. They also state, two bears became all bears, due to these same “design features”.

Where in the Bible are these “design features” mentioned?

They are never mentioned, they are lying to the people.

They are blatantly using the concept of evolution to support their theory.

Their thoughts and beliefs are not Biblically based.

Nowhere in the Bible can we find God creating animals with evolution in mind. When God was done creating mankind and the animals on the Sixth Day, He said, “it was very good”, (Genesis 1:31). There is no room to believe or insert that God allowed His Creation to evolve into new species.

Further, if this premise were true, the creatures on earth, including mankind would still be changing today, certainly over a short 4,000 year period of time since the flood of Noah.

Yet, we do not see that, we do not see new races of people, we do not see new “kinds” of horses or bears. We only find the “species” that have existed since God created them. We even have “living fossils” that prove evolution is a fabrication of man. A new religion in order to explain existence itself, when it is explained in the Word of God for those who want to understand.

Young earth creationists have simply stolen a page from the evolutionary handbook and have presented it as Biblical fact in order to teach their doctrine.

The Details In The Numbers

For just a moment, let us consider 6,744 animals on Noah’s Ark, let us further consider the implications of that belief.

This means Noah and his family of just eight total people were able to feed, water, and maintain 6,744 different animals. They were able to clean up their urine and feces daily in order to avoid disease, all while providing for themselves as well.

With God all things are possible is certainly true, but God told Noah to bring the animals on the Ark and care for them. God wanted Noah to take action, and we are not told any details that God took care of the animals for Noah. Nor are we told God placed a great sleep over the animals as some try and insert into Scripture.

Instead, God told Noah to bring on the Ark food for him and the animals, to sustain his family and the animals on the Ark.

To look at this from another angle. If we consider the 40,000 animal (vertebrate) species that exist today, Noah would have had seven of each species for the clean animals and two of each species for the unclean animals, male and female for each, (Genesis 7:2-3). This would have easily accounted for over 100,000 animals that were just land vertebrate species.

This does not factor in marine, plant, insect and microbial life, which were not required on Noah’s Ark. This in of itself documents, Noah’s Flood was not global.

Otherwise, how did life not only survive the flood, but come to exist on the continents of the world today?

/* *** Print tooltip */ #printfriendly .underline.web-tooltip.web-tooltip-top:after { content: ' (' attr(data-tooltip)')'; font-size: 70%; font-style: italic; color: #777; } /* *** Font body of document */ #printfriendly #pf-body, ol, ul, dl, li { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly #pf-title { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*dev*/ #printfriendly #pf-author { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: #888; text-align: center; } /* *** Style Table of Contents */ #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header, .elementor-toc__body { background-color:#f1f1f1; border-radius: 5px; padding: 15px; width: 75%; margin:auto; margin-bottom: 10px; display:none; } #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header-title { font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h2 { font-size: 16pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*print link color, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a, #printfriendly a:visited { color: blue; } /*remove reftagger link attributes, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef, #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef a:visited { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; color:#333; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-color: transparent; } #printfriendly p, ul { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; } /*style blockquote font size*/ #printfriendly blockquote { font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly img { border-radius: 3px; } /*favicon*/ #printfriendly #pf-src-url img { border-radius: 0px; } /*print in footer*/ #printfriendly #pf-print-area:after { content: 'Visit: worldeventsandthebible.com, © World Events and the Bible'; font-size: 10pt; color: #777; display: block; text-align: center; }