With all the animals running around today it seems like it would be impossible for Noah to have fit 2 of each one (and 7 of some) into the ark. Let's ask some questions first:
1) How big was the ark?
2) How many animals did the ark have room for?
3) How many animals did Noah need to take?
4) What about the really big animals like dinosaurs?
How big was the ark?
The Bible says:
Genesis 6:15
. . . The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits,
its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
A cubit is the length of your arm from fingertip to elbow. (my cubit is 20 inches) Measure your cubit to see how long it is. Most people have a cubit of 18 inches (of course Noah could have been nearly 12 feet tall - which would give him a very big cubit). Let's imagine Noah had a cubit of 18 inches like most people today. That means the ark would have been at least 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet tall.
The ark was almost as big as a football field.
But how many animals did he have room for?
. . . A train box car today transports about 240 sheep
. . . The ark was the same size as 577 train box cars
. . . The ark could have held 138,480 sheep size animals.
How many animals did Noah need to take?
God said to take:
Genesis 6:20
Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
A kind is different from the way scientists classify animals today. We are not sure what God meant exactly, but it was probably 2 dog kind. 2 cat kind, 2 parrot kind, 2 finch kind, etc..
Noah probably only had to take less than 40,000 animals total!
He had enough room to keep all the animals just on one floor of the ark.
But what about the big animals?
Most animals are sheep size or smaller, but some get very big. Elephants, and what about the dinosaurs? Remember God sent the animals to Noah, and He probably sent babies or young animals. The largest dinosaurs, like brachiasaurus, grew up to 150 feet long, but when they were born their shell was smaller than a basketball. That means a young dinosaur was very small. Plus young animals would eat a lot less, and sleep a lot more making it easier to care for them during this year.
I hope you start to see that what the Bible says is true.
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