Question
How did animals get all over the world after the flood? All animals were in the ark, and there are animals that are found only in one island in the world.
Answer
Shalom,
In some of the rabbinic sources it is inferred that the flood was not all over the world, for example, not in the Land of Israel (Zvachim 113b), and so explains Rabbi Yehuda Keel, (Da’at Mikra, Breishit 6, footnote 54), in response to your question. He explains verse 6, 17 there, that “all that was in the land died”, according to the halachic rule that often when it says “all”, it means “most” (Horayot 3b).
With Love of Israel,
Rav Ari Shvat
