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Prancing and playing in South Africa, the quagga puzzled those who studied zebras. While it was obviously a zebra, it did not have stripes all over. Instead, its body is melded in dark brown and white fur with black, white, and dark brown stripes across the upper body and forward middle section. Its muzzle was likewise dark brown or yellowish brown, depending on the animal.
For many in the 1800s though, the quagga was a simple meal option. Hunted to extinction for both meat and pelt, the last quagga is believed to have died in the wild sometime after 1875. The last quagga mare, kept in the Natural Artist Magistra Zoo in Amsterdam, died August 12, 1883.
At the time, most thought that the quagga was a completely distinct species of zebra. However, scholars discovered that the quagga was actually a sub species of the plains zebra.
The plains zebra, though typically black and white, has tremendous variety in its stripe patterning. While scientists and biologists have not been able to determine why there is such a difference, they suspect that it was because the quagga was isolated from the other plains zebras and developed on their own. Experts further suspect that the reduction in stripes may have something to do with the land where this breed of zebras lived. The terrain was primarily open country, and the full striping would have made it stand out rather than blend in.
Starting in the 1970s, Reihold Rau traveled throughout Europe to examine and observe the remaining Quagga specimens that had been preserved. Looking at 21 of the available 23 and having extensive knowledge of the plains zebra, he began speaking with a mammologist in Munich, Germany named Dr. Haltenorth. The two men became convinced that it would be possible to rebreed the quagga. While they ran into difficulties with feasibility and finances, Rau continued with his proposal, gaining contributors, doctors, and zoologists to assist him.
Research and studies continued into what became known as the Quagga Project. Over the years, it developed from a private initiative into a project that became recognized in official channels and received support.
Currently, the Quagga project selects plains zebras who look the most like the quagga. Since the quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra, this practice makes it quite conceivable that they will be successful, albeit in a long term procedure.
Even the plains zebra sometimes has brown rather than black in its stripes, and in some cases, the striping is somewhat dispersed, fading as it reaches the hindquarters. These observations suggest that the Quagga genes remain in the current plains zebra population, according to the official Quagga Project site. With each bred generation, the conservationists select those zebras that look more like the quaggas to continue the policy.
The Quagga Project admits that because they can only compare the current results with the mitochondrial DNA from the preserved quaggas rather than the nuclear DNA, they cannot be certain if the rebred quaggas will be the same as the original. Right now, the tactics are limited to breeding, though some have recommended cloning. Cloning, however, is not a viable option, however, because it requires full live cells, meaning that they must also have the nuclear rather than just the mitochondrial DNA.
The current goal is to breed a thriving population of quaggas and reintroduce them into South Africa. So far, over the past fifteen years, the program has been successful. In 2011, more than 25 foals were born into the modified zebra herd. The current herd size is well over one hundred animals.
The quagga was the very first animal to be studied at the DNA level. The research going into this study is being considered to try to “breed back” or use selective breeding to establish other once extinct subspecies.
These latest birthing into the herd are among the third and fourth generations. The zebras do not have the full characteristics of the quagga, but they look more like them than their parents and grandparents. Hopefully, after the next few generations, the quagga will run wild and free again, and this unusual little zebra will once more be a part of Africa’s thriving wildlife.