Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
FER'RET, an animal of the weasel family tamed in Europe and used for catching rats. It has long been agreed that "the creature which sighs or groans" (Heb. anokah, "to groan") is not the ferret. Lev 11:30. Older writers considered it the shrew-mouse or the hedgehog, both of which abound in Palestine. The belief is now almost universal that it is some animal of the lizard The Gecko, or Ferret. tribe.
Several of these reptiles make a mournful cry or wail, especially the gecko, which is very common in Palestine and Egypt among ruins, and is remarkable not only for the clucking note which its name imitates, but for its fan-like toes, whereby it is able to run up the smoothest wall, and even on ceilings. Of these small lizards there are several species.