Fox in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

(shu`al; compare Arabic tha`lab (Jdg 15:4; Neh 4:3; Ps 63:10; Song 2:15; Lam 5:18; Ezek 13:4); alopex (Mt 8:20; Lk 9:58; 13:32)): The foxes of different parts of Europe and Western Asia differ more or less from each other, and some authors have given the local tyes distinct specific names. Tristram, for instance, distinguishes the Egyptian fox, Vulpes nilotica, of Southern Israel, and the tawny fox, Vulpes flavescens, of the North and East It is possible that the range of the desert fox, Vulpes leucopus, of Southwestern Asia may also reach Syria. We have, however, the authority of the Royal Natural History for considering all these as merely local races of one species, the common fox, Vulpes alopex or Canis vulpes. The natives of Syria and Israel do not always distinguish the fox and jackal although the two animals are markedly different. The jackal and wolf also are frequently confounded...