Richard Whitekettle, «Rats are Like Snakes, and Hares are Like Goats: A Study in Israelite Land Animal Taxonomy», Vol. 82 (2001) 345-362
Israelite taxonomic thought drew a contrast between a land animal taxon referred to by the words Cr#$ or #&mr that contained animals such as rats and snakes (Land Animals I), and a land animal taxon referred to by the words hmhb or hyx that contained animals such as hares and goats (Land Animals II). This essay shows that the Land Animals I taxon was characterized by locomotory movement in the horizontal plane and the Land Animals II taxon was characterized by locomotory movement in the vertical plane. Thus, the contrast was between land animals that were perceived to move along the ground (Land Animals I) and land animals that were perceived to move over the ground (Land Animals II).
SPRAWLING LIMB POSTURE | UPRIGHT LIMB POSTURE | ||||||
Land Animals I | Land Animals II | ||||||
Spotted Lizard | Mouse | not = Snake | Centipede | Antelope | Leopard | Camel | Sheep |
Dabb Lizard | Rat | not = Snail | Millipede | Roebuck | Jackal | Horse | Goat |
Chameleon | not = Slug | Scorpion | Gazelle | Lion | Cow | Pig | |
Gecko | Spider | Addax | Bear | Ass | |||
Skink | Hyrax | Hare | Ox |
This raises two questions. First, since Land Animals I and Land Animals II were differentiated on the basis of movement, what difference is there between the movement of land animals with a sprawling limb posture and an upright limb posture? Second, what similarity is there between the movement of legless Land Animals (e.g., the snake, snail, and slug) and sprawling-stance legged Land Animals (e.g., the skink, mouse, and spider) that linked them together in the mind of the Israelites, over against the movement of upright-stance legged Land Animals (e.g., the antelope, hyrax, and pig)?
V. The Kinematics of Legged Land Animal Locomotion
In Land Animals with a sprawling stance, the limbs move beside the body with limb segments (e.g. the femur or foot) describing horizontal ellipses relative to the shoulder and hip22. This can be seen in the following dorsal view of the hindlimbs of an iguana through successive phases of its stride23: