In Genesis 7:4 we learn that the assembling of The Ark's animal menagerie was accomplished in seven days. I find it interesting that the entire creation of "all that is" was accomplished in six. The preservation of that creation by its being gathered into The Ark took seven. Noah needed one more day than had God. What about that! (a little tongue-in-cheek humor there...)
Now, obviously, water-breathing animal life did not need to be brought on board The Ark, nor did marine vegetation. Some theologians1 believe that, literally, two of every existing, air-breathing species were brought onto the boat. It certainly had a lot of room, one source saying enough to house 125,000 sheep (and most animals are smaller than a sheep). In today's zoological classification of animals, the term "species" is the lowest, most specialized tier, and there are (conservative estimate) 1 to 2 million animal species on Earth today. "Well, there certainly was not room for all that!", you say. True, but we must remember that a sizable number of those animals are/were not air-breathing, but were instead water-breathing. Another unknown is whether there were that many animal species in Noah's day, or not. If NOT, then it is possible that two of every species were brought on board.
Others, such as the Answers in Genesis group, believe that only representative pairs of "kinds" were brought aboard, these containing in their genetic make-up the material to diversify over time, and that animal kinds became more diverse as centuries followed and kinds adapted to their environments. A synonym for "kind" on the taxonomy chart is "family". For example, dogs are in one family; cats are in another, and humans in yet another. The next rung down from family is genus; each family contains several genera. For example, in the cat family (Felidae), you have Felis (small cats and domestic cats), Panthera (tigers, leopards, jaguars and lions) and Puma (panthers and cougars) genera. And, as previously noted, the lowest rung, the one below genus, is species.
But, what IS a "kind" as it is referred to in the Bible? The word occurs in both Genesis 1, during creation, and then again in Genesis 6 and 7. Would it correspond to our modern-day terms "species" or "genus" or "family"?
Remember that (at the risk of stating the obvious) our zoological classifications did not exist in Noah's day (Duh!). In the older translations, "kind" was used to translate the Hebrew word "מִין" (Min) which means "an entity distinct from other entities".2 Every time this word appears, it is used in a taxonomical context.
Here's perhaps an easier way to understand it. God brought onto the Ark a representative pair of animals/plant life that could interbreed with others in that "kind" to form the biological diversity we see today. For example, a dog and a dingo could interbreed and produce offspring, because they are of the Canis family (kind). So, only one breeding pair from that family would have been needed.
What we see having happened over hundreds of years since the Flood is that within the zoological designation of family (kind), much variation has occurred as animals adapted to their environments. Hence, you have the arctic hare, the pygmy rabbit, the jackrabbit, etc. This is not evolution. Evolution has never been actually observed to naturally occur outside the zoological designation of family. For example, a dog cannot breed with a cat. A human cannot breed with a cow. Etc. (Thank God!) . Further, God in His infinite wisdom has closed some doors so that, even within a family, certain species cannot interbreed successfully to perpetuate the line. An example of this would be a horse interbreeding with a donkey, producing the sterile mule.
Why does this matter? It matters because atheists use this point to attack the veracity of the Bible. Scoffing, they ridicule creationists by claiming that the Ark story could not have occurred, as the boat was not big enough to contain enough "pairs" to repopulate the Earth. However, it certainly occurred, and here we are today.
In addition to the above points, we must embrace as Christians that the Great Flood was a supernatural event, never to be repeated (rainbow promise from God, remember? Genesis 9:13).
And, nowhere in Scripture does it say Noah went out and found these pairs of animals. God sent them to him (Genesis 6:20). Christian, is it preposterous to believe that God could load the Ark up with all the "seed" necessary to repopulate the Earth, when He created it all in the first place? Why is it some can believe the creation account, but not the flood account?
Well, I "kind of" think this post has gone on long enough. If you want to study this point further, check the sources below.
Sources:
1 http://www.ldolphin.org/cisflood.html
2 https://answersingenesis.org/creation-science/baraminology/what-does-two-of-every-kind-mean/
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