Let?s look at what God says about this. In Genesis 6:20 we read: ?Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.? (NIV)
The key here is ?come to you?. Contrary to a relatively recent television commercial, Noah didn?t have to go out and capture all the animals; God sent them into the Ark.
It?s important to keep in mind we are not talking of the ?variety? of animals within a kind of today.
Explanation: I am told there are approximately 300 variety of the kind dog.
What would happen if you put the 300 variety of dog on an island and left them alone for 100 years?
Answer: I suggest that some of the big dogs would breed with some of the medium-sized dogs, some of the medium-sized dogs would breed with some of the small dogs, the long-tailed dogs with the short-tailed, the red dogs with the yellow dogs, the short-haired with the long-haired, the straight-haired with the curly-haired, floppy-eard with the straight-eard, ---------------fun, huh?! Get the idea?
When you returned at the end of the 100 years what would the dogs look like?
Answer: I suggest you?d be looking at somewhat drab, average size (of big & small), friendly, el-muttos with the genetic potential for tremendous variety through selective breeding.
From what I?ve read, there were no more than twenty variety of the kind dog in the early fifteenth century A.D. Most all of the variety we have today comes through man?s selective breeding. (Selective breeding on the part of the dogs themselves, different climatic conditions and diet can also produce some variety.) Climatic (weather) conditions before the Flood were much more uniform, i.e. all of Earth had a temperate climate.
Although there are now genetic barriers to animals that appear to be of the same kind, at one time they may have been of the same kind. The horse and donkey appear to be of the same kind, but when a horse breeds with a donkey you get a mule with is sterile. This may not have been the case at one time. Damaged genes are the result of radiation, chemicals, and the ancestral pool. (This all began because of sin)
Sooooooo, there was no where near the variety within the various kinds of animals before the flood. (Not only this, but there weren?t as many either
What about the relatively short time period?
Answer: Genesis 6:3 tells us, ?..., his days will be a hundred and twenty years.? (NIV) That is, it would be 120 until the flood began. (This verse is not referring to the longevity of life)
Conclusion: There was 120 years for the animals to get to the Ark, God sent them, and there were far fewer variety animals to be represented. (Keep in mind that there was only one continent at this time - Genesis 1:9-10)
