After the Flood: Why Did Dinosaurs Vanish from Earth?

As we expanded in the previous article, the Torah mentions giant creatures during the Genesis era ("And Hashem created the great sea monsters" - Genesis 1:21), and the sages in the Midrash described giant creatures from Genesis that became extinct (referred to as "Re'em"). It's astonishing how thousands of years ago, our sages learned from the Torah and oral tradition about these gigantic creatures that populated the world and later became extinct.

In the Midrashic literature, the term "Re'em" and "Re'emim" were used to describe these giant creatures from the Genesis era, whose proportions reached impressive heights.

The Midrash tells of King David climbing onto one of the last of the Re'emim, mistaking it for a mountain, risking his life:

"Rabbi Huna bar Idi said: When David was shepherding the flock, he found a Re'em sleeping in the desert. Thinking it was a mountain, he climbed it. When the Re'em awoke and stood, David was riding on its horns, which reached the heavens. At that moment, David said, 'Master of the Universe, if you bring me down from this Re'em, I will build you a sanctuary a hundred cubits high, like the horns of a Re'em.' Some say its length was measured, and others say its circumference was measured" (Midrash Tehillim, Buber, Psalm 22).

The Talmud discusses the size of the Re'emim and asks how Noah managed to bring them into the ark, explaining that since he took them as cubs, they fit into the ark. Another explanation is that Noah kept them by the side of the ark (Zevachim 113b).

Such tales might have seemed like mere legend or allegory to people of the past. However, after the discovery of fossils of these giant creatures, their existence cannot be denied.

Equally amazing is the fact that the Torah identified these historical animals with the term "tannins" - giant lizards. Those who believe in the Torah won't be surprised by these facts because they are aware of the divine source of our historical knowledge. Jewish documentation has now become undeniable scientific fact.

Why did dinosaurs disappear from Earth?

The mystery of the sudden appearance and disappearance of dinosaurs is one of the greatest enigmas in modern science. Dinosaurs have no preceding fossil record; they appear out of nowhere during the so-called "Jurassic Era," and then vanish suddenly. Their extinction remains a mystery, for all other kinds of mammals and small reptiles have survived to this day. What kind of catastrophe could have specifically wiped out the dinosaur family that inhabited the primordial world?

In Psalms it is stated: "You divided the sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters" (Psalms 74:13).

This verse, along with the oral tradition, teaches that the great sea monsters perished in the abyssal waters of the ocean. But when did they perish in the waters?

The Midrash identifies the great sea monsters with the term "Leviathans" (Baba Batra 75a), possibly referring to their size or marine environment. Rashi explains according to this Midrash that the great sea monsters perished during the fifth day of Genesis; hence, the first man, who was created on the sixth day, did not get the chance to see them. However, the Midrashic literature also recounts these primordial giant creatures known as "Re'emim," which survived until Noah's time. According to these Midrashim, all the giant creatures perished in the flood, with the only survivors being the young Re'emim that Noah took into the ark (Zevachim 113b).

It is possible that the tradition describes two extinctions of dinosaurs (which were in fact a large family of reptiles comprising many large and magnificent species both in sea and on land), with the first extinction occurring during the days of Genesis and the second during the flood.

Rabbi Meir Leibush, known as the Malbim, is one of the noted Torah commentators who resolved many contradictions between the Torah and science. Over 150 years ago, he extensively wrote about the giant creatures created during Genesis. In his commentary on the Parshat Noach, the Malbim explained that Hashem caused the extinction of these enormous creatures during the flood because most of them were unsuitable for inhabiting the post-flood world, hence they were not brought into the ark. In other words, dinosaurs perished in the flood. Afterward, as the water levels receded, the Creator opened the earth to swallow their gigantic remains, preventing them from disturbing humanity in the new world after the flood. It is advisable to see his full commentary firsthand.

In any case, some smaller dinosaurs undoubtedly survived the flood in Noah's ark, as not all of the dinosaurs were gigantic. "Dinosaurs" is the term given to a large family of reptiles that came in various sizes.

Today, crocodiles are the largest reptiles known to us, and they are living descendants of the ancient dinosaur family; thus, one species of their family undoubtedly survived the flood since Noah brought them into the ark (apart from the young Re'emim whose fate remains unknown to us until today). Besides common crocodiles, iguanas and giant monitor lizards also belong to the dinosaur family. Hence, not all dinosaurs perished in the flood - at least not the smaller ones.

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