Mole in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

tinshemeth. Rather "chameleon", the inflating animal, as it inflates its body; from nasham "to breathe."(See CHAMELEON.) The lung when filled with air renders its body semi- transparent; from its power of abstinence it was fabled to live on air (Leviticus 11:30). In Leviticus 11:18 it is "the ibis," an unclean bird. Of the tree lizard, Dendrosaura, tribe. In Isaiah 2:20, chephor perot, "moles in KJV, literally, "continual diggers," mice or rats, which bore in deserted places. Mole rats in Syria and Mesopotamia frequent cultivated lands. The ruins of Babylon are perforated on all sides with holes, the abode of "doleful creatures."