At present the list of land animals known to inhabit it is short,[267] including scarcely more than the bear, the leopard or panther, the wolf, the hyaena, the jackal, the fox, the hare, the wild boar, the ichneumon, the gazelle, the squirrel, the rat, and the mole.
The present existence of the bear within the limits of the ancient Phoenicia has been questioned,[268] but the animal has been seen in Lebanon by Mr.Porter,[269] and in the mountains of Galilee by Canon Tristram.[270] The species is the Syrian bear (_Ursus syriacus_), a large and fierce beast, which, though generally frugivorous, will under the presser of hunger attack both men and animals.

Its main habitat is, no doubt, the less accessible parts of Lebanon; but in the winter it will descend to the villages and gardens, where it often does much damage.[271] The panther or leopard has, like the bear, been seen by Mr.Porter in the Lebanon range;[272] and Canon Tristram, when visiting Carmel, was offered the skin of an adult leopard[273] which had probably been killed in that neighbourhood.

Anciently it was much more frequent in Phoenicia and Palestine than it is at present, as appears by the numerous notices of it in Scripture.[274] Wolves, hyaenas, and jackals are comparatively common.

They haunt not only Carmel and Lebanon, but many portions of the coast tract.

Canon Tristram obtained from Carmel "the two largest hyaenas that he had ever seen,"[275] and fell in with jackals in the vicinity.[276] Wolves seem to be more scarce, though anciently very plentiful.
The favourite haunts of the wild boar (_Sus scrofa_) in Phoenicia are Carmel[277] and the deep valleys on the western slope of Lebanon.