badger, dugong is an animal mentioned in the Bible that has a skin, which was used for various things in biblical life, most notably the tabernacle.
Note that we are not 100% sure what this animal was/is. Most of these definitions are experts opinions more than accurate modern knowledge of the animal like what we know is an a lion or such.
Bible occurrence: Exo 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19; 39:334; Num 4:6, etc.
This was the animal that God directed the Israelites to use in making the covering for the tabernacle. Shoes of women were also made of them (Eze 16:10). There is a confusion here by the translators as to what the Hebrew tachash (Latin taxus, badger), and most probably the correct translation is “seal skins” which is abundant in the Sinai peninsula and Red Sea, or the dugong which is plentiful in the shallow waters of the Red Sea.
The dugong is a marine animal of 12 to 30 feet long, something like between a whale and a seal, never leaving the water and easily caught. It grazes on seaweed, and is known as Halicore tabernaculi. There are badgers in Palestine but its small skin hide would prove difficult to use as a covering for so large a tent.
Source: [DCox]
Badger. Only the skin of badgers is mentioned in the Bible and even this is questionable. (Exodus 26:14) and (Numbers 4:6-25) speak of the coverings for the tent of the tabernacle. The Hebrew word tachash is translated “badger skins.” However, no one really knows what the Hebrews meant by this word. Other translators render it as “goatskins” (RSV), “porpoise-hides” (NEB), or “hides of sea cows” (NIV).
Possibly this word did mean badgers. Coarse badger hair would certainly be a protective cushion between the fine fabrics in which the articles of worship were wrapped for travel. The KJV translates the word as “badgers” skins” in (Ezekiel 16:10), which refers to a foot covering. The RSV translates “leather.”
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Badger. — No mention of the badger (Meles (genus)|meles]taxus) is found in the D.V., whereas the A.V. regularly gives it as the English equivalent for táhásh. The skin of the táhásh is repeatedly spoken of as used for the outer cover of the tabernacle and the several pieces of its furniture. The old translations, and the D.V. after them, understood the word táhásh to mean a color (violet; Exodus 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19; Numbers 4:10, 25; Ezekiel 16:10); but this is a misrepresentation; so also is the rendering of the A.V.; for though the badger is common in Palestine, yet the Hebrew name most probably indicates the dugong (halicore hemprichii or halicore tabernaculi), a very large species of the seal family living in the Red Sea, the skin of which is used to the present day for such purposes as those alluded to in the Bible.
Resource: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_animals_in_the_Bible]
Badger. a four footed beast that burrows in the earth; perhaps it includes the Civet cat. Some authors, perhaps from their mere fancy, describe a dog-badger; but that which is best known is the hog-badger or brock. Its body is short. Its hair long and stiff as bristles; that on the back is greyish, that on the side yellowish, that on the legs black. The legs are short and have sharp claws on the two fore-feet. Its face is triangular as that of a fox, but oddly marked with white and black. Its eyes are small, and its teeth and mouth like those of a dog. It feet on small animals and roots of vegetables, and bites very hard. Its flesh is not disagreeable to eat, and is said to be a remedy for the sciatic, and the disorders of the kidneys. The hair is useful in pencils for painters and guilders; and the skins being an excellent, though course preservative against rain, the uppermost covering of the sacred tabernacle consisted thereof, and might signify the outwardly mean appearance of Christ and his church, Exo 26:14; 36:19. Badger-skins were also used for shoes Eze 16:10. But perhaps these skins, in both cases, pertained to an animal different from our badger; and some render the Heb TAHASH, by blue, purple, or scarlet. Harmer thinks, that leather made of them was very fine-grained, and red, and that our red Morocco leather is but an imitation of them, as well as of the red skins of rams, wherewith the tabernacle was covered.
Resource: [Brown]