Joseph,
I wrote previously “So my question is, could it be that the “animals” that were created before Adam might not have necessarily resembled the animals that we have today, just like it might be fair to say that we might not really resemble what “people” looked like in the times of Adam and subsequently Og, etc…”
Yes, the Torah says the animals were created before Adam. But there was also a nachash (that we define now as snake) walking on legs. Clearly, it is not certain that the animals that were alive then were exactly the same as the animals that are alive now. They might have been. But in the same way that there Adam was different from present day humans, and Moshe was also huge, and there were giants… Let me put it like this: I very much doubt that Adam and his children looked exactly the way we humans do now. Similarly, perhaps the animals that were created before Adam evolved.
I think I realize how I am being unclear. Let me clarify: I am NOT saying, in ANY way, that the full theory of evolution is correct and should be taken at face value. I don’t necessarily think that humans and monkeys share a common ancestor. What I am asking is whether it is possible that evolution has SOME basis in fact – that maybe Hashem caused some evolution through history – in humans, from Adam and on through the times of giants, etc…, as well as animals from THEIR ancestors (e.g. dinosaurs – a snake walking on legs sounds a lot like a dinosaur to me) and that subsequently, based on the evidence of evolution in various animals and plants that scientists have found, they expounded the theory of evolution and erroneously generalized it to humans sharing ancestors with monkeys.
Also – I think it says Adam’s body was fashioned from dust, dirt, clay, etc…no? As far as I know, the Torah does not expressly say how the animals were created. Perhaps Hashem fashioned an animal that shared some characteristics of the body of Adam and that subsequently evolved into present day primates. Again, only questioning the possibility of it.