List of Animals in The Bible - C

C

• Calf, One of the most popular representations of the deity among the Canaanites. The calf is, in Biblical poetry, a figure for vexing and pitiless foes . The fatted calf was a necessary feature, so to say, of a feast dinner.

• Camel, a prominent domestic animal of the East without the existence of which life in the Arabian deserts would be impossible. It was perhaps the first beast of burden applied to the service of man. It is mentioned as such in the Biblical records as early as the time of Abraham. It constituted a great element in the riches of the early patriarchs. There are two species of camel: the one-humped camel (camelus dromedarius), and the two-humped camel (camelus bactrianus). The camel is used for riding as well as for carrying loads; its furniture is a large frame placed on the humps, to which cradles or packs are attached. In this manner was all the merchandise of Assyria and Egypt transported. But the camel is appreciated for other reasons: it may be hitched to a wagon or to a plough, and in fact is not infrequently yoked together with the ass or the ox; the female supplies abundantly her master with a good milk; camel's hair is woven into a rough cloth wherewith tents and cloaks are made; finally its flesh, albeit coarse and dry, may be eaten. With the Jews, however, the camel was reckoned among the unclean animals.

• Camelopardalis, occurs only once in the D.V. (Deuteronomy 14:5), as a translation of zémér. The word, a mere transcription of the Latin and the Greek, is a combination of the names of the camel and the leopard, and indicates the giraffe. But this translation, as well as that of the A.V. (chamois), is doubtless erroneous; neither the giraffe nor the chamois ever lived in Israel. The wild sheep or mouflon, which still lingers in Cyprus and Arabia Petrala, is very likely intended.

• Cankerworm, the locust in its larva state, in which it is most voracious. So does A.V. render the Hebrew, gãzám; the word palmerworm, given by the D.V. seems better.

• Cat. — Mention of this animal occurs only once in the Bible, namely Bar., vi, 21. The original text of Baruch being lost, we possess no indication as to what the Hebrew name of the cat may have been. Possibly there was not any; for although the cat was very familiar to the Egyptians, it seems to have been altogether unknown to the Jews, as well as to the Assyrians and Babylonians, even to the Greeks and Romans before the conquest of Egypt. These and other reasons have led some commentators to believe that the word cat, in the above cited place of Baruch, might not unlikely stand for another name now impossible to restore.

• Cattle. — Very early in the history of mankind, animals were tamed and domesticated, to be used in agriculture, for milk, for their flesh, and especially for sacrifices. Many words in Hebrew expressed the different ages and sexes of cattle, West of the Jordan River the cattle were generally stall-fed; in the plains and hills south and east they roamed in a half-wild state; such were the most famous "bulls of Basan".

• Cerastes (Hebr., shephîphõn) should be substituted in D.V. for the colourless "serpent", Gen., xlix, 17. The identification of the shephîphõn with the deadly horned cerastes (cerastes hasselquistii or vipera cerastes) is evidenced by the Arabic name of the latter (shúffon), and its customs in perfect agreement with the indications of the Bible. The cerastes, one of the most venomous of snakes, is in the habit of coiling itself in little depressions such as camels' footmarks, and suddenly darting on any passing animal.

• Chameleon (Hebr., kôâh). — Mentioned Lev., xi, 30, with the mole (Hebr., tínshéméth). In spite of the authority of the ancient translations, it is now generally admitted that the tínshéméth is the chameleon, very common in Israel; whereas the kôâh is a kind of large lizard, perhaps the land monitor (psammosaurus scincus).

• 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).

• Charadrion (Hebrew anãphah, Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18) would be the plover; but it rather stands here for the heron, all the species of which (this is the sense of the expression "according to its kind"), numerous in Israel, should be deemed unclean.

• Cherogrillus (Leviticus 11:5; Deuteronomy 14:7), a mere transliteration of the Greek name of the porcupine, corresponds to the Hebrew shãphãn, translated in Ps. ciii (Hebr., civ), 18, as irchin, and in Prov., xxx, 26, as rabbit. As St. Jerome noticed it, the shãphãn is not the porcupine, but a very peculiar animal of about the same size, dwelling among the rocks, and in holes, and called in Israel "bear-rat", on account of some resemblance with these two quadrupeds. We call it coney, or daman (hyrax syriacus). Its habit of lingering among the rocks is alluded to, Ps. ciii, 18; its wisdom and defencelessness, Prov., xxx, 24–26. "It cannot burrow, for it has no claws, only nails half developed ; but it lies in holes in the rocks, and feeds only at dawn and dusk, always having sentries posted, at the slightest squeak from which the whole party instantly disappears. The coney is not a ruminant (cf. Leviticus 11:5), but it sits working its jaws as if re-chewing. It is found sparingly in most of the rocky districts, and is common about Sinai" (Tristram).

• Cobra (naja aspis), most likely the deadly snake called péthén by the Hebrews, found in Israel and Egypt and used by serpent-charmers.

• Cochineal (coccus ilicis). — A hemiptera homoptera insect very common on the Syrian holm-oak, from the female of which the crimson dye kermes is prepared. The complete name in Hebrew is equivalent to "scarlet insect", the "insect" being not infrequently omitted in the translations.

• Cock, Hen. — Domestic poultry are not mentioned till after the Babylonian captivity is what some believe but others understand the "seal of Jaazaniah" from the ruins of the biblical Judean kingdom at Mizpah, with the inscription of "belonging to Jaazaniah, servant to the king" to carry the insignia of a rooster "in fighting stance" for spiritual purposes based on Proverbs 30, with similar illustrations of "cocks in fighting stance" found within the Vivian Bible. In Jesus' time domestic poultry, introduced from India through Persia, had become common, and their well-known habits gave rise to familiar expressions, and afforded good and easy illustrations (Mark 13:35; 14:30, etc.). Jesus Christ compared His care for Jerusalem to that of a hen for her brood, or more accurately an ornis, a bird, specifically a rooster or hen. The three times the word 'cock' appears in the D.V. it is owing to a misinterpretation of the primitive text, according to some, but to others in the context of a religious instilling vessel of "a girt one of the loins" (Young's Literal Translation) that which is "stately in his stride" and "move with stately bearing" within the Book of Proverbs 30:29–31, Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon (Saadia Gaon) identifies the definitive trait of "a cock girded about the loins" within Proverbs 30:31(DV) as "the honesty of their behavior and their success", identifying a spiritual purpose of a religious vessel within that religious and spiritual instilling schema.
  • (1) Job, xxxviii, 36, the word sékhwi means soul, heart: "Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? and who gave his soul understanding?", but also "Sekvi means 'rooster' according to the Sages" and hence "Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?"(DV).
  • (2) Prov., xxx, 31, zãrzîr should be translated as "hero" according to some, but to others a "a cock girded about the loins" or "a girt one of the loins"(Young's Literal Translation), "which most of the old translations and Rabbis understood to be a fighting cock",.
  • (3) Is., xxii, 17, where the word gébhér, great, strong man, has been rendered according to some rabbinical conceptions, but also the Hebrew word gever was used to mean a "rooster" in addition to the meaning of "man, strong man".

• Cockatrice. — A fabulous serpent supposed to be produced from a cock's egg brooded by a serpent; it was alleged that its hissing would drive away all other serpents, and that its breath, even its look, was fatal. The word is used in A.V. as the regular equivalent for Hebrew, çíphe'ônî.

• Colt. — See ASS'S COLT (sup.).

• Coney. — See Cherogrillus (sup.).

• Coral, Hebrew, rãmôth, should probably be substituted, Job, xxviii, 18, for "eminent things", and Ezech., xxvii, 16, for "silk" in the D.V. The coral dealt with at Tyre was that of the Red Sea or even of the Indian Ocean; coral seems to have been scarcely known among the Jews.

• Cormorant (Leviticus 11:17; Deuteronomy 14:17), very frequently met with on the coasts, rivers, and lakes of Israel, probably corresponds to the shãlãk of the Hebrew, although this name, which means "the plunger", might be applied to some other plunging bird.

• Cow. — See CATTLE (sup.).

• Crane (grus cinerea). — The word does not occur in D.V., but seems the best translation of Hebrew, 'ãghûr, read in two passages: Is., xxxviii, 14, and Jer., viii, 7, where its loud voice and migratory instincts are alluded to. There is little doubt that the two above indicated places of D.V., where we read "swallow", should be corrected.

• Cricket, a good translation for Hebr., çelãçál, "chirping", which besides the feature suggested by the etymology, is described Deut., xxviii, 42, as a voracious insect. See BLAST (sup.).

• Crocodile. — We do not read this word in any other place than Lev., xi, 29 (D.V.), where it corresponds to the Hebrew, çãb; the animal is, nevertheless, oftener spoken of in the Holy Books under cover of several metaphors: ráhâb, "the proud" (Isaiah 51:9); tánnîn, "the stretcher" (Ezekiel 29:3); líweyãthãn (leviathan) . See DRAGON (inf.). The crocodile (crocodilus vulgaris) is still found in great numbers, not only in the upper Nile, but also in Israel. A remarkable description of the crocodile has been drawn by the author of the Book of Job. He depicts the difficulty of capturing, snaring, or taming him, his vast size, his impenetrable scales, his flashing eyes, his snorting, and his immense strength. Dreadful as he is, the crocodile was very early regarded and worshipped as a deity by the Egyptians. He is, in the Bible, the emblem of the people of Egypt and their Pharaoh, sometimes even of all Israel's foes.

• Cuckoo, according to some, would be the bird called in Hebrew shâhâph (Leviticus 11:16; Deuteronomy 14:15), and there reckoned among the unclean birds. Two species, the cuculus canorus, and the oxylophus glandarius live in the Holy Land; however there is little probability that the cuckoo is intended in the mentioned passages, where we should perhaps see the shear-water and the various species of sea-gulls.