Bat

From BibleWiki

The Hebrew word (atalleph') so rendered (Lev 11:19; Deut 14:18) implies "flying in the dark." The bat is reckoned among the birds in the list of unclean animals. To cast idols to the "moles and to the bats" means to carry them into dark caverns or desolate places to which these animals resort (Isa 2:20), i.e., to consign them to desolation or ruin.

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This well-known winged mammal (in Hebrew (missing hebrew text) , Lev 11:19; Deut 14:18; Isa 2:20) was considered by the Hebrews as belonging to the class of birds. The ancients in general considered it as a creature belonging both to the birds and to the mammalia, and partaking of the nature of both classes (Bochart, "Hierozoicon," s.v.). Like all night-birds, the Bat was considered unclean by the Hebrews. The numerous caves and ruins of Palestine afford shelter to innumerable swarms of bats; and Tristram ("Natural History of the Bible," pp. 45, 46) enumerates no less than seventeen species indigenous to that country. Several of these are also found in Europe and America.