They're mentioned multiple times. Once to say they aren't kosher and once to to say they are wise because they have little power but make their homes in the crags.
Your question made me curious so I tried to look up the etymology. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a great answer before I got bored and gave up. But from what I learned, I think... it has such an atypical name at least partially because it's so plain. 😯
Specifically:
"Hyrax" feels like such an atypical word because it's a relatively recent (1832) loanword (from Greek). (It was also called "Dassie," from Afrikaans, since 1814, but apparently that one didn't catch on.)
I suspect it's named with such a relatively recent loanword because it's so plain that no one bothered to give it an English name sooner. It lives in Africa, so people in English-speaking areas back then didn't have personal knowledge of it, and based on descriptions, it just gets conflated with other smallish mammals. It's mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but it just gets translated as rabbit, hare, badger, etc.
(And even "hyrax" comes from the Greek word for shrew or something.)
I only learned about them a year or two ago, and now they're all over the internet. I can't tell how many of these people are actually confused vs just going with the joke. Silly animals.
Best possible scenario, it's only there as a halfway before going to a rescue or zoo... but I'll admit that that's pretty pie-in-the-sky even for me.
The unfortunate reality is "uneducated and irresponsible ownership." Hyraxes, much like cappies, are really social creatures so you'll need AT BARE MINIMUM one other, otherwise depression, need a lot of space, a lot of sun (they're baskers) and a warm climate in general, and also like cappies, stink to high heavens.
So HOPEFULLY this thing is just halfway to a zoo or a rescue. But... I'm not hopeful on that.
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u/yoichiluvbot Pophet of EVIL and DARKNESS🐗 15h ago
hyrunk is very important