What Animals Were On the Ark?

But the animals are different and varied in many, many ways. As the diversity of man found it's expression down through the ages in various types of coloring, etc., in animals, there is evidence that many "species" (as we call them) were the expression of the genetic union of other animals NOT of the same species. Of the fossils of pre-flood animals that have been found, many are of the same "families" we have today, but of different "species"- these are termed "extinct". Many are much, much larger than those we have today, while some are smaller. We know that some animals possess abilities to adapt to various climates and terrain and it appears that as the animal kingdom began to make it's way into all the earth after the flood, certain "species" arose (from the union of the original animals on the ark) that were specially adapted to each region they entered. This meant that there wouldn't necessarily be the same "species" all over the world, even though they descended from the same original parents.

Similarities in Placental and Marsupial Mammals

There is an enormous amount of evidence which indicates that the present-day animals are really the results of the early pairing of animals that we may not consider to be of the same family. The marsupials of Australia are a good example of this. This fact has not gone unnoticed by the scientific community: "Marsupials are of interest to zoologists for several reasons:... their similarity in many respects to placental mammals,..."(EB, vol. 11, p. 537, 1985.) Some look exactly like placental shrews, moles, mice, squirrels, and the "thylacine" is termed the Australian "wolf". Yet, they have a completely different reproductive system, along with other traits which make them unique. Is it possible that placental and marsupial mammals shared a common ancestor in some cases which accounts for their similarities?

It appears that as the animal world became more diverse, with more and more "species" appearing, they reached the limits God had set to insure their diversity and maintain their purity. With no more possibilities of successful combinations between animals that had differences but were of the same "kind", variations ceased to be produced (except for things like color, size, etc.). "Cellular incompatibilities" prevented animals from successfully breeding with other similar animals, some which may seem almost identical to them. Some animals that seem so very similar, such as "mice and rats", have never even produced a sterile hybrid. The mystery of "instinct" took over and animals automatically knew who to mate with. There are a few animals which have been artificially cross-bred by man, such as a lion and a tiger (a tigron) and a mare and a he-ass (the mule), but the result has been in most cases that the off-spring (called "hybrids") were sterile. In short, the animal kingdom appears to have, to a large extent, reached it's genetic combination limit

New Species from Old Species?

The presence of the large and varied marsupials in the isolated Australian continent is strong evidence of the unfolding of the gene-pool of a small number of original animals which first came there after the flood. Less this seem too far fetched, consider Dr. Six's primroses. The story goes back to the discovery of America which is the only place the primrose was found at that time. Later explorers took some home with them and in the 1880's, Dr. Six planted some in his ornamental flowerbed. Soon, they outgrew the flowerbed and spread to his potato patch. Before long, they were spread over more than an acre of ground. In 1886, Hugo de Vries, a professor of Botany at Amsterdam was gazing over the field of beautiful flowers with his critical eye. Suddenly, he uttered a cry of astonishment. There in the middle of the primroses were 2 completely new species, differently leafed and with flowers of a different shape. Since they were so closely wedged in among the host of usual varieties they were bound to be direct descendants of those around them. De Vries took cuttings of these primroses and planted them in the botanical gardens at Amsterdam. Within 13 years, those original plants had produced 7 entirely new species, including some giant forms and some dwarfs. They were not related types or varieties but genuine new species which transmitted their characteristic unmodified.

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