Cœlacanth?............. When I was a kid, they found one in Madagascar, that was around 1948, a few years back they found another. Some ole fossils managed to stick around. (like me) Finding fish on a mountain range doesn’t necessarily mean a great flood, it could mean the ocean bottom was pushed up during the continental shifts. The Ark that is on display in Holland/Denmark?? which is a replica made from the biblical measurements would not be able to carry anything close to a pair of each mammal and reptile that may have been on the planet in Noah’s time. Of course God created everything and it was in his power to make all the animals shrink into 35MM miniature size, but I don’t believe that part is written anywhere. In all those fossils, where are all those humans that were drowned? (Rhet.) In all those biblical readings, did they realize that just over the horizon there were other civilizations that were not affected? Do we go onto to Jonah next? What difference does it make if it was 1 million or 100 million years ago? The dinosaurs were extinct, if they weren’t, mammals would be part of their menu, and we as humans can be thankful they weren’t around. They have enough problems dealing with Crocodiles in the Nile Region, just think what it would be like, having to run and hide from roving raptors and Tyrannosauruses higher than your average house.
There are roughly 25,000 species of animals (8,240 reptiles, 9,800 birds, and 5,416 mammals) today, and many of those can interbreed, thus reducing the number of species required. Nevertheless, let's assume there were 50,008 animals on the ark.
The ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Let assume those were similar to the interior dimensions, and also assume the ark was rectangular. Thus, the are would have had ~1.5 million cubic feet in volume, let assume 1/3 of that space was set aside for the animals, and the rest was set aside for food, aisles, etc. That gives every animal on board 10 cubic feet of living space, or roughly a 2.2 foot square box.
However, if we assume the average reptile and bird only needed 2ft^3,that means the average mammal could have 39 ft^3. Granted, some are larger and smaller than the average, but the point is, it is quite feasible.
FWIW, many assert that today's observed speciation could be accomplished with 1/3 as many animals..