zoology, mosaic food laws and Biblical interpretation

Much of my research involves reading ancient texts relatively contemporaneous with the writings of the New Testament. Recently I have been researching how early Christians read the Old Testament as a result of Jesus and the resurrection. This inquiry has led me to The Epistle of Barnabas, a text written somewhere between AD 70 and 132. One of the principle aims of this text is to help Christians understand the relevance of the Old Testament for the Christian life. As is often the case in this time period, they come up with some 'creative' readings. The following is one example. Here in chapter 10 our author is trying to explain the true meaning of the Mosaic food laws. Below is a brief snapshot:

…Furthermore, ‘You shall not eat the hare’. Why? Do not become, he means, one who corrupts children, or even resemble such people, because the hare grows another opening every year, and thus has many orifices as it is years old. Again, ‘Neither shall you eat the hyena’. Do not become, he means, an adulterer or a seducer, or even resemble such people. Why? Because this animal changes its nature from year to year, and becomes male one time and female another. But he also hated the weasel, and with good reason. Do not become, he means, like those men who, we hear, with immoral intent do things with the mouth that are forbidden, and do not associate with those immoral women who do things with the mouth that are forbidden. For this animal conceives through the mouth. (Epistle of Barnabas 10.6-8).

[Incidentally, there is at least one other ancient document which discusses how weasels procreate with the ear and conceive through the mouth.]