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Description
“ There’s no limit to how much you’ll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go. ”– Dr Seuss

Quagga (Afrikaans Arabic: خواععا, Tshwa: llkoaah) is a extinct subspecies of Plains Zebra that was endemic to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century. It was long thought to be a distinct species, but early genetic studies have supported it being a subspecies of plains zebra.

The colonials considered the quagga a pest, because it vied with their cattle for grazing land. Additionally, the meat was edible, and the hides were exported to the leather industry, making the quagga commercially viable.

Like other animal species that disappeared in Africa during the 19th century, the quagga was hunted to extinction. It was the age of the great white hunter, when privileged Europeans with too much time on their hands and too much firepower at their disposal roamed Africa, killing indiscriminately against Asians, Arabs, Turks, and Zulus on the front.

Since 1987, a breeding project has been under way in South Africa to produce an animal with the physical characteristics of the quagga, particularly its yellowish-brown color and the unusual striping pattern. Now, a group of scientists outside of Cape Town are bringing it back. Like zebras, the quagga has stripes, though these only appear on the front half of their bodies. Unlike the zebra, they are brown along the rear half of their body.

This is only possible because of DNA testing, which showed that the quagga was not a distinct zebra species as once believed, but one of several subspecies of Plains zebra. Through selective breeding of these close relatives, the project has succeeded in producing animals that closely resemble the original quagga. In 1984, the quagga was the first extinct animal whose DNA was analysed.

The practice is controversial, since the resulting zebras will resemble the quaggas only in external appearance, but will be genetically different. The technology to use recovered DNA for cloning has not yet been developed much like woolly mammoths did for the future generations.

Reference
www.trvst.world/biodiversity/z…
www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintec…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga
edition.cnn.com/2016/01/25/afr…

Quagga – © Disney, National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC, Discovery Channel, CNN International, GMA network

This drawing was made by Ognimdo2002

Description
“ There’s no limit to how much you’ll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go. ”– Dr Seuss

Quagga (Afrikaans Arabic: خواععا, Tshwa: llkoaah) is a extinct subspecies of Plains Zebra that was endemic to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century. It was long thought to be a distinct species, but early genetic studies have supported it being a subspecies of plains zebra.

The colonials considered the quagga a pest, because it vied with their cattle for grazing land. Additionally, the meat was edible, and the hides were exported to the leather industry, making the quagga commercially viable.

Like other animal species that disappeared in Africa during the 19th century, the quagga was hunted to extinction. It was the age of the great white hunter, when privileged Europeans with too much time on their hands and too much firepower at their disposal roamed Africa, killing indiscriminately against Asians, Arabs, Turks, and Zulus on the front.

Since 1987, a breeding project has been under way in South Africa to produce an animal with the physical characteristics of the quagga, particularly its yellowish-brown color and the unusual striping pattern. Now, a group of scientists outside of Cape Town are bringing it back. Like zebras, the quagga has stripes, though these only appear on the front half of their bodies. Unlike the zebra, they are brown along the rear half of their body.

This is only possible because of DNA testing, which showed that the quagga was not a distinct zebra species as once believed, but one of several subspecies of Plains zebra. Through selective breeding of these close relatives, the project has succeeded in producing animals that closely resemble the original quagga. In 1984, the quagga was the first extinct animal whose DNA was analysed.

The practice is controversial, since the resulting zebras will resemble the quaggas only in external appearance, but will be genetically different. The technology to use recovered DNA for cloning has not yet been developed much like woolly mammoths did for the future generations.

Reference
www.trvst.world/biodiversity/z…
www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintec…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga
edition.cnn.com/2016/01/25/afr…

Quagga – © Disney, National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC, Discovery Channel, CNN International, GMA network

This drawing was made by Ognimdo2002