I agree, stitch markers are the way to go with crochet.
I saw some bizarre question/comment elsewhere recently along the lines of “Why is it so much easier to learn crochet than knitting?”
I goggled actually.
My very English nana was determined that I I learn both as young child.
The knitting stuck. Even her wide range of cats-cradle cast-ons seemed deeply imprinted so I could figure them out from books later.
Crochet? Anything beyond the foundation chain seemed unfathomable. At least it was until I was sick enough that I didn’t want to risk my knitting projects and just hacked away at crochet until it finally made sense.
By the way, Sirdar had decent animal knitting patterns for its Countrytime DK yarn at one point. There was a nativity scene to knit with the obligatory farm animal patterns, but I also vaguely recall a Noah’s ark pattern set as well. The nativity one is still in print and available at some Sirdar vendors. I have this one and have had good results with the patterns.
Alan Dart is offering a slightly different Noah’s Ark set also for DK. It covers many of the popular animals, but I haven’t ever tried it myself.