Dinosaurs on Noah's ark

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Many people think that the ark was small and that dinosaurs were huge, and therefore that dinosaurs could not have been on Noah's ark.

But when you ask the average person how big the ark was, or how tall a brachiosaurus was, they can not tell you.

Question: "I think your site is great. I just have a question though. When I tell all my friends about the dinosaurs in the Bible and how they were on Noah's Ark, some ask how the big ones (like Brachiosaurus) can fit on the ark."
Joyce (age 15) 8/15/01

Many kids and even adults ask me this question. Many people do not realize just how big the ark was, or how small some of the dinosaurs were. If we keep these 2 things in mind, it is not a problem at all.

All dinosaurs started small as babies All dinosaurs hatched from eggs. Here is a picture of a hadrosaur egg. The largest dinosaur eggs are about the size of a soccer ball. Noah could have taken babies on the ark. Hadrosaur egg

If it was on the earth, then it was on the Ark!

Comment from a reader:
"If the Behemoth was on the ark, can you imagine the immense size of Noah's Ark? I know the Bible says the Ark was big, but just for two Behemoth's, It would take the size of a city to hold, let alone all the other animals. I'm not questioning it, I'm just stating how immensely big it must have been."
Sam L. 8/26/01

The ark was big, but it didn't need to be that big.

The bible says that the ark was built by God's instructions:
"The length of the Ark shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits" - Genesis 6:13

If you took a brachiosaurus on the ark that was still growing, and he was about 15 feet tall as shown in this picture he would easily fit on any one of the 3 floors of the ark.

The height of the ark was 45 feet. The width was 75 feet and the length of the ark was 450 ft. ( This is longer than a football field). Read this page (noah.html) for more info on the size of the ark (opens new window)

There is a great amount of evidence to show that Dinosaurs lived as little as a few thousand years ago. Was it during the flood that they died out?

If Dinosaurs were extinct before the flood, then the enormous force from a coastless current would have destroyed any fossilized remains. So we know they could not have died millions of years ago like some believe.

Also, thousands of gallons of running water are needed to fossilize an animal buried in the huge sedimentary deposits caused by the flood.

The very presence of dinosaur fossils today is (in part) proof that they existed up to the time of the flood. So if they were still alive in the days of Noah, then he would have had to take them on board with him.

God said to take "Two of each kind" of animal on to the ark.

Were Dinosaurs too big for the ark?

If dinosaurs were over 50 feet high, and weighed over 11 tons how could they fit on the ark?

Only adult dinosaurs were that tall or weighed that much. The healthiest of any species of animal are the babies. They are stronger, faster and more apt to reproduce. They also sleep more, and eat less. These would be the animals taken on the ark.

We often see huge dinosaurs such as the T-rex and the Brachiosaurus in movies and in books because they are much more intriguing and interesting to look at. But their size is not a true representative of the vast number of dinosaur species.

There are only about 30 different "kinds" of dinosaurs (there are many more species) You do not need to take Apatosaurus, brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus on the ark. You just need two members of the sauropod kind. There would be about 60 dinosaurs total (2 of each of the 30 kinds) on the ark.

"Two of each kind"

( I think these 2 are necking..)

So the fossilized dinosaurs we see today are evidence that the flood occurred, but not all of the dinosaurs were killed in the flood.

There was more than enough room for the dinosaurs.

Q. " What happened to the dinosaurs if they were not taken on the ark?
R. McDonald 8/11/01

A. Many dinosaurs perished in the flood. But at least 2 of each "kind" of dinosaur was taken on board the ark.

Each "kind" of living dinosaur was taken on board the ark. Not every species was on board. Instead of taking all the species like Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus etc. (these are dinosaurs belong to the "sauropod" family of dinosaur) you would only need to take 2 of these and then as the reproduced and were separated they would form new species of sauropod dinosaurs. This is not evolution, just variation and speciation. They are still and will always be dinosaurs.

This picture shows an adult standing next to the ark. A full grown man is dwarfed next to this enormous boat.

Q."Did the dinosaurs enter the ark when all of the other animals were taken on?
R. McDonald 8/11/01

Since animals had not yet started to kill and eat each other there would be no danger in taking them all on at once. The bible first tells us it is ok to eat meat after Noah got off the ark. Read my page on vegetarian animals and the effect of sin at:
https://www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/carnivores.html (opens new window)

Many dinosaurs and other animals have gone extinct in the 4 thousand years since the flood.

Question: "I read in many books that Brachiosaurus was about 50 to 70 feet tall, and in the Bible it says that the flood covered the tallest mountain, which weren't that tall back then, by about 25 feet. I'm guessing the flood was about 75 feet deep. So could the tallest brachiosaurus still walk around on the higher ground, like the mountain's or hills? And there were also bigger animals than the brachiosaurus right? So could they walk around in the water?
Joyce

The purpose of the flood was to destroy all human life that was not on the ark. We know that fish would not need to be on board as they can survive outside just fine. Some people think that the fossilized footprints of dinosaurs in some areas of the world are evidence that dinosaurs were in the flood.

I will update this page soon with pictures of dinosaur footprints in odd places very soon.

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If you have any questions on Creation, Evolution, or just want to say "Hi" please feel free to email me.

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