by Carrie Burrows

Created on: October 12, 2008

The quaggas (Equus quagga quagga) were a subspecies of the Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) that became extinct in the late 1800s. They were once believed to be their own species, but recent DNA analysis has shown that quaggas were actually Plains Zebras. There are six known subspecies of the Plains Zebra. Quaggas differed from other Plains Zebras in that their stripes faded in to a solid brown color at the midsection. They populated South Africa's Cape Province and what is now referred to as the Republic of the Orange Free State.

Physiologically, quaggas lived and behaved like other zebra species. They had the same herbivorous diet, herd lifestyles, and even sounded the same when they brayed. Quaggas were highly social and lived in family groups dominated by stallions. Mares birthed one foal every year and that foal was weaned once the next one was born. Foals that did not stand, walk, and nurse within hours of birth were abandoned. Like other zebras, quaggas were difficult to tame and train.

Generally speaking, quaggas and other zebras are more closely related to donkeys than they are horses. Attempts at mating quaggas and zebras with donkeys or horses produce sterile offspring commonly referred to as "zebroids".

Crocodiles, hyenas, lions, leopards, and cheetahs preyed upon the quaggas, but human beings were their ultimate demise. Quaggas were frequently killed by ranchers and herdsman who believed that they were pests. They were hunted in to extinction for their meat and hides.
Quaggas were kept in zoos and circuses throughout Europe prior to their extinction. Records indicate that King Louis XVI of France had a quagga in his personal menagerie during the 18th century. The last living quagga mare died in the Amsterdam zoo in 1883.

In 1987 a natural historian by the name of Reinhold Rau pioneered The Quagga Project, which aims to "breed back" the Quagga from a population of Plains Zebras that are genetically similar to the extinct subspecies through selective breeding. In January 2005 a foal named Henry was born and it has believed that he is the quaggas' closest living relative.

The Quagga Project continues to monitor its population's genetic progress and hopes to one day repopulate South Africa with quaggas. It is unknown at this time if their breeding program will beat cloning technology to the equine's revival. Until then, taxidermied specimens can be viewed at various museums in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and the USA.

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