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‘ THE ZOOLOGIST. 
IS THE OKAPI IDENTICAL WITH THE “THAHASH” 
OF THE JEWS? 
By S. M. Perlmann. 
Quite recently the January number (1904) of the * Wester- 
mannsche Monatshefte ’ first reached my hands. My attention 
was at once drawn to an article by Georg Krause entitled “ The 
Okapi ; an Animal newly discovered in the Primitive Forests of 
Africa.” As I had formerly read with interest in different news- 
papers some short notes and remarks regarding this new mam- 
mal, I attentively perused this publication, and became more 
convinced of what I had surmised long since, namely, that this 
animal, which is new with us, was already known to the Jews 
at the time of Moses under the name of “ Thahash.” 
I consider my suggestion a probable one, but I fear I am 
very late ( post festum) with it, and it would be very curious 
if nobody had thought of it till now ; but, regardless of being too 
late, I will not shrink from compiling the arguments on which I 
base my views. 
Before quoting the source's on which my suggestion is based, 
I consider it necessary to give some quotations from the article 
on the Okapi by Krause. There it is said (p. 465) : “ . . . Their 
[the aborigines’] information and scanty narratives were gener- 
ally limited to the description of the Okapi as a zebra-like 
creature with a dark brown upper part of the body, and it has 
more than one hoof.” Further (p. 466) : “ Now it became appa- 
rent that the Okapi is not a horse but a ruminating animal.” 
And (p. 467) : “ The most interesting part of the skull of the 
Okapi, after all, is the forehead. There are three elevated spots 
to be perceived distinctly; two of them on those places where 
other animals have the horns, and the third one between the 
eyes, at the very centre of the root of the nose.” 
I will now adduce my arguments for the view that this 
animal is the same as is called in the Bible (Exod. xxv. 5, and 
