Bear, she-bear
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Prov 17:12). The Syrian bear is in fact the very species of that predatory animal so often mentioned in the Bible. Among the Hebrews, the mother-love of the she-bear for her cubs became proverbial. Her fury at the sight of her cubs being taken from her assumed terrible proportions, as is indicated in 2 Samuel (17:8) and in the prophet Hosea (13:8). David defended his flocks from the attack of a bear (1 Sam 17:34-36). Two she-bears, coming out of the forest, tore forty-two children who had mocked the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 2:24).