Quagga Project
Encyclopedia
Quagga
The quagga is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in great numbers in South Africa's Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State. It was distinguished from other zebras by having the usual vivid marks on the front part of the body only...
(Equus quagga quagga) from extinction and reintroduce it into reserves in its former habitat.
In 1955, Lutz Heck
Lutz Heck
Ludwig George Heinrich Heck, called Lutz Heck was a German zoologist, animal researcher, an animal book author and director of the large zoo in the German capital city .Together with his brother Heinz Heck, also a zoologist and director of the largest zoological garden in southern...
suggested in his book Grosswild im Etoshaland that careful selective breeding with the plains zebra
Plains Zebra
The plains zebra , also known as the common zebra or Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. It ranges from the south of Ethiopia through East Africa to as far south as Angola and eastern South Africa...
could produce an animal identical to the extinct quagga: a zebra with reduced striping and a brownish basic colour.
Reinhold Rau
Reinhold Rau
Reinhold Rau was a well-known South African natural historian. He was born near Frankfurt, Germany. He was trained as a fossil preparator at Senckenberg Museum and joined the South African Museum in 1951....
visited in 1971 various museums in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to examine the quagga specimens in their collections. During these visits he discussed with Dr. Theodor Haltenorth, a mammalogist from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the feasibility of attempting to re-breed the quagga. Haltenorth expected that such a programme would be possible.
During later years, Reinhold Rau had contacted several zoologists and Park authorities, but they were on the whole negative. The fact that the quagga was still seen as a separate species caused these reactions. Reinhold Rau did not abandon his re-breeding
Breeding back
Breeding back can be described as either a natural or a human attempt to assemble or re-assemble the genes of an extinct species, subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or those of multiple interbreedable species.Breeding back is...
proposal, as he considered the quagga to be a subspecies of the plains zebra. In 1980, molecular studies of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
of a quagga indicated that this animal was a subspecies of the plains zebra.
After the DNA examination results appeared in publications from 1984 onward, gradually a more positive attitude was taken towards the quagga re-breeding proposal. In March 1986, the project committee was formed after influential persons became involved. During March 1987, nine zebras were selected and captured at the Etosha National Park
Etosha National Park
Etosha National Park is a national park in the Kunene Region of northwestern Namibia. The park shares boundaries with the regions of Oshana, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa....
in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. On 24 April 1987, these zebras were brought to the specially constructed breeding camp complex at the Nature Conservation farm "Vrolijkheid" near Robertson, South Africa. This marked the start of the quagga re-breeding project.
After the number of zebras increased, the Quagga Project had to abandon the "Vrolijkheid" farm. In October 1992, six zebras were moved to land which had sufficient natural grazing. This would reduce the cost of feeding. In 1993, the remaining zebras were moved to two additional sites.
On 29 June 2000, the Quagga Project Association, represented by its chairman Dr. Mike Cluver and South African National Parks by its CEO Mavuso Msimang signed a co-operation agreement. This agreement changed the Quagga Project from a private initiative to an officially recognised and logistically supported project.
In 2004, the 83 zebras in the program were living at 11 localities near Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. On 20 January 2005, the most quagga-like foal was born. Striping has been much reduced.
As the quagga occupied a circumscribed range and apparently was a relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
that diverged and adapted to local conditions as recently as during the Wolstonian Stage, it might have had some special adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
s to local ecological conditions. As opposed to the plesiomorphic color pattern which seems easy to breed back, an autapomorphic adaptation could never be recovered.
See also
- Breeding backBreeding backBreeding back can be described as either a natural or a human attempt to assemble or re-assemble the genes of an extinct species, subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or those of multiple interbreedable species.Breeding back is...
- Heck cattleHeck cattleHeck Cattle are a hardy breed of domestic cattle. They are the result of an attempt to breed back the aurochs, which became extinct in 1627, from modern aurochs-derived cattle...
(recreated aurochs by breeding backBreeding backBreeding back can be described as either a natural or a human attempt to assemble or re-assemble the genes of an extinct species, subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or those of multiple interbreedable species.Breeding back is...
domestic cattle) - Barbary Lion Project