Charles Ellicott Commentary Lamentations 4:3

"Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." — Lamentations 4:3 (ASV)

Even the sea monsters ... —Better, jackals. The Authorised Version is intended apparently to apply to cetaceous mammals; elsewhere (Jeremiah 14:6) the word is rendered “dragons.” “Jackals,” it may be noted, are combined with “owls” or “ostriches,” as they are here, in Job 30:29; Isaiah 13:21. A like reference to the seeming lack of maternal instinct in the ostrich is found in Job 39:16. The comparison was obviously suggested by facts like those referred to in Lamentations 2:20.