Theow, also called ''thos'', ''thea'' or ''thoye'', is a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

heraldic beast In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an '' escutcheon'' (shield). That may be a geometric design (sometimes called an '' ordinary'') or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object, building, or o ...

, represented by a wolf with goat's hooves. It goes back to a mythological beast described in antiquity by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

, as looking like a wolf but with bigger body and shorter legs. This has been interpreted as an attempt at describing a

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

. In Medieval

bestiaries A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history a ...

it was described as being a kind of wolf with a mane of different colours. During the winter it had thick hair but it lost all its fur in summer. It never attacked humans and was said to live in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, home of many semi-legendary animals according to Medieval bestiaries. This creature, according to another description made by Solinus in the ''Collectanea rerum memorabilium'' (Third century AD), is very likely to be a misrepresentation of an actual canid only found within the country’s borders, the

Ethiopian wolf The Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis''), also called the Simien jackal and Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build ...

, which the local people call ‘''theas’.''

References

{{reflist Heraldic beasts Mythological canines