- According to DNA analyses, the quagga (Equus quagga quagga) was a subspecies of the zebra (Equus quagga).
- The last known quagga died in Amsterdam Zoo in 1883.
- In the “Quagga Project”, zebras that look like quaggas are paired in a targeted manner in order to eventually create a quagga subspecies again.
Legend:
Extinct Quagga
A quagga from Samuel Daniell’s “African Scenery and Animals” (1804)
IMAGO / KHARBINE-TAPABOR
In the 19th century, many quaggas still lived in the wild. Intensive hunting by the European colonists and the inhabitants of South Africa led to the extinction of the subspecies. Researchers and organizations associated with the “Quagga Project” have been specifically looking for stripeless zebras and mating them since 1987. Now they have already bred 20 quagga-like animals. Those involved in the project are hoping for more tourism in the future.
Johannes Kirchgatter from the WWF criticizes: “It is certainly possible to “breed” the stripes out of a zebra – but this does not result in a quagga, but only a zebra without stripes”.
March Turnbull of the “Quagga Project” admits: “Evolution does not repeat itself”. That’s why he doesn’t call the 20 animals quaggas, but “Rau-Quaggas” after Reinhold Rau, the zoologist and spiritual father of the project.