Bible Animals

Hare in Wikipedia

Hare. - Mentioned Lev., xi, 6; Deut., xiv, 7, in the list of the unclean quadrupeds. Several subspecies of the European Hare and the Cape Hare live in Israel: Lepus europaeus syriacus in the north; Lepus europaeus judeae in the south and the Jordan valley, together with Lepus capensis sinaiticus, Lepus capensis aegyptius and Lepus capensis isabelli...

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Ape in Wikipedia

Nowhere in the Bible is the ape supposed to be indigenous to Israel. Apes are mentioned with gold, silver, ivory, and peacocks among the precious things imported by Solomon from Tharsis (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 9:21)....

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Bear in Wikipedia

The bear spoken of in the Bible is the ursus syriacus, scarcely different from the brown bear of Europe. Since the destruction of the forests, it is now rarely seen south of Lebanon and Hermon, where it is common. Not unfrequently met in the Holy Land during the Old Testament times, it was much dreaded on account of its ferocious and destructive in...

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Chamois in Wikipedia

Chamois (antilope rupicapra) is now totally unknown in western Asia, where it very probably never existed. The opinion of those who see it in the Hebrew zémér (Deuteronomy 14:5) should consequently be entirely discarded (see Camelopardalis)....

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Dromedary in Wikipedia

Dromedary. - The word so rendered, Is., lx, 6, signifies rather a swift and finely bred camel....

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Fowl in Wikipedia

Fowl. - This word which, in its most general sense, applies to anything that flies in the air (Genesis 1:20, 21), and which frequently occurs in the Bible with this meaning, is also sometimes used in a narrower sense, as, for instance, III K., iv, 23, where it stands for all fatted birds that may be reckoned among the delicacies of a king's table; ...

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Hart in Wikipedia

Hart and Hind. - Either the fallow-deer, still occasionally found in the Holy Land, or the red deer, now extinct, or the deer generally. It has afforded many illustrations to time Biblical writers and poets, especially by its fleetness (Song of Songs 2:9; Isaiah 35:6), its surefootedness [Ps. xvii (Hebr., xviii), 34; Hab., iii, 19], its affection (...

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Adder in Wikipedia

A poisonous snake of the genus Vipera. The word, unused in the D.V., stands in the A.V. for four different Hebrew names of serpents....

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Behemoth in Wikipedia

Behemoth, is generally translated by "great beasts"; in its wider signification it includes all mammals living on earth, but in the stricter sense is applied to domesticated quadrupeds at large. However in Job, xl, 10, where it is left untranslated and considered as a proper name, it indicates a particular animal. The description of this animal has...

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Coney in Wikipedia

Cherogrillus (Leviticus 11:5; Deuteronomy 14:7), a mere transliteration of the Greek name of the porcupine, corresponds to the Hebrew shãphãn, translated, Ps. ciii (Hebr., civ), 18, by irchin, and Prov., xxx, 26, by rabbit. As St. Jerome noticed it, the shãphãn is not the porcupine, but a very peculiar animal of about the same size, dwelling among ...

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