The original question was:
In his article, AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS: How did they walk to Noah’s Ark?” John Mackay writes that animals from Australia had maybe 100 years to go to Noah. Yet, he doesn’t answer how they would get back, nor does he address how they would in the process find food and ecosystems they were adapted to. A penguin, for example, cannot and could not survive in hot climates, and the same would go for animals adapted to hot climates passing through areas with cold climates.
Answer by John Mackay
This question is a follow up to a previous question. The original question and answer can be read here.
First, a point about penguins. Penguins are found living from the Galapagos Iaslands on the equator, through subtropical and temperate regions along African, South American and Australian coasts, right down to Antarctica. Perhaps a bigger mystery for you is why none are found in the northern regions. Note also, the Bible records the climate before and immediately following the flood was much milder and less extreme than the current climate, meaning that creatures such as penguins would not have been severely bothered by hot or dry weather and vice versa for warm weather creatures.
Secondly, my original article (Australian Animals – How did they walk to Noah’s ark) never discussed animals coming from Australia since the article points out there was no Australia before Noah’s flood. The pre-flood geography of the world was completely different. Penguins would never have needed to migrate from their current abode to the Ark since neither the Galapagos Islands, Australia nor the Antarctic existed prior to Noah’s Flood. These islands and continents are all post flood phenomena. Prior to the Flood there was only one continent and one ocean.
Post Flood Animal Migration
As the world continued to degenerate after the flood, extreme environments such as the hot tropics and cold Antarctic regions developed. Animals in such regions that did not already have features that would enable them to survive these conditions would have died out, while those that had features that could cope would survive. This resulted in the patchy distribution of animals we see in the world today, especially is harsher climates. This is natural selection at work. It is a real process, but it will not make anything evolve.
Therefore, all penguins stayed on the coast as they are well designed to find food in the sea. They vary in size and behaviour according to the climate and environment. Therefore, Galapagos penguins are small and lay their eggs in crevices and caves in the rocky ground where they can protect them from the sun. Aussie Penguins are small to medium and dig burrows and lay eggs out of the sun and danger. They certainly bark or honk at any critters near their burrows to frighten them off, and from personal experience climbing coastal cliffs it’s very effective. Antarctic penguins are large and keep their eggs on the feet and cover them with their feathers and folds of skin to keep them warm.
Another reason why many groups of animals are found in such disparate places is they got off the ark in the Middle East in limited size groups – maximum three pairs, minimum one pair, which meant they never could go in all directions after the flood.
Wherever they went they were subject to “survival of the fittest” depending on the environment and what other animals they were competing with. The American Roadrunner is not found anywhere else, just as the Emu is only found in Australia, whereas I have seen platypus and possum fossils in Canada and South America as well as in Australia. Platypus didn’t make it in Canada as the climate really degenerated, so they are regarded as Australian when they’re actually only survivors. One reason why white polar bears, who have lost their ability to make much melanin in their hair, are found in Arctic regions is that white bears are only found in places where their surroundings are white, as they are so easily spotted and killed in forested areas where brown bears can blend into the dark forest landscape. Having personally been tracked by white/grey bears in Alaska, I can vouch that they are very hard to see against the snow and ice just as the black bears in Washington State which I have also frequented are equally hard to see. PS Polar bears are totally black under a that white fur. I have lifted the fur to check.
For more information on post-Flood migration see the question:
ANIMAL MIGRATION: How did animals populate the world after the flood? Answer here.
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