Jerboa (source’s identification of the shaphan)
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Lev. 11:5)—the source follows an obsolete proposal that the unclean animal called shaphan was a jerboa or rabbit-like rodent. The Hebrew animal is now generally identified as the rock hyrax, a small, rock-dwelling mammal common in the Near East. Although it does not ruminate anatomically, its chewing movements appeared cud-like to ancient observers; it lacks a divided hoof. Proverbs describes the shaphanim as a feeble folk that make their homes in the rocks (Prov. 30:26). The historical engraving below depicts jerboas and should not be taken as a secure image of the biblical animal.