Quagga

Quagga, which is a subspecies of plains zebra (Equus quagga), is biologically termed as Equus Quagga Quagga is an extinct species. It belongs to the family of Equidae of order Perissodactyla and belongs to the genus Equus. It belonged to a single geographical location that was its native place named South Africa. Thus it is also sometimes commonly termed as Quagga Africa. 

Due to the extensive hunting of the species or domestication for forage by European settler-colonists in Africa, it became extinct in the 19th century. Many early genetic studies suggest that though the Quagga is extinct they are simply the sub-species of plain Zebra with almost the same characteristics. Though they were wild and lively they were more submissive as compared to the Southern subspecies of the plain zebra known as Burchell’s Zebra. 

There are very few known facts about the species behaviour but it might have gathered in a herd of 30 to 50 at a time. They were once in abundance in Karoo of Cape Province and  Orange free state of Africa. Later they were taken to the zoo for breeding but it was an unsuccessful attempt. Finally, the quagga was officially declared extinct in the year 1987 and the last species kept in captivity died in Amsterdam on 12 August 1883. 

The fun fact about the quagga extinction is that among all the extinct species only one now quagga extinct mammal was photographed alive ever in history and only 23 skins are in existence today. In the year 1984 extinct quagga was the first animal whose DNA was examined. The project is carried out to develop the phenotype of their hair pattern and some similar characteristics by carrying out selective cross-breeding of the closest animal alive which is Burchell’s Zebra. an illustration of the quagga that was extinct that was photographed in the London zoo in 1870 is given below.

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Description of Quagga Animal

Physical Characteristics

The quagga animal is believed to be 257 cm long (8 ft 5 in) in length and the shoulder height ranged from 125 to 135 cm (4.1 to 4.5 feet). The female quagga according to the measurement is declared to be slightly taller and longer than the uncastrated male quagga. But only the stallions that are the extension of Zebras are the largest among the family. Among all equid family specimens, the quagga had a unique coat pattern that looks like a zebra with brown and white strips that were limited to the front body (from head to neck) and appeared more horse-like from the rare end. But the distribution of pattern was different for individual quagga animals. 

Their upper body part had a brown base whereas their belly was white in colour, tail and four legs. The stripes were very prominent on the head till the neck but gradually fainted down the body. It almost camouflaged with its reddish-brown skin of flank and back and disappeared completely in the further back of the body. Its physical characteristics were very similar to that of Southern Africa’s Burchell’s zebra that had similar strips that covered their head and neck and most of the part of their body except the belly, legs and the hind part.  Quagga had a dark dorsal stripe on the back with standing hair that grows from the top of the neck of equids with white and brown stripes. 

From the photographs that were taken of the extinct quagga from the year, 1863 to 1870 many observations were made. Based on the studies and the observations, many papers published had described the base coat of the species as darker with light stripes that are the exact opposite of a plains zebra. But a German Biologist named Reinhold Rau who initiated the quagga project has explained the characteristics to be an optical illusion as the base colour of quagga was creamy white with thick and dark stripes on the neck and head.

The studies under the quagga project suggested that as they are native to the southern end which is now a plain Zebra’s range, they possessed a thick coat of hair that was they naturally shredded each year. They had a straight profile with a narrow occipital bone and a concave gap between the two teeth in front in contrast to their broad structure. Like other plains zebras, quagga does not have any longitudinal skin hanging from their neck that is also called a dewlap. Only mountain zebras have dewlap on their neck.

A morphological study of the skeletal features of Burchell’s zebra was studied and was compared with the skeletal features of the quaggas. It was found that the skeletal characteristics and the patterns have striking similarities and overlap each other and therefore it was difficult to distinguish between the two specimens. Some of the other similar specimens also underwent morphological study in the same year and it was derived that they were the intermediate species between the quagga and the Burchell’s zebra. 

The study also proved that Burchell’s zebra still exhibit very limited stripings. Thus all of the above observations and study firmly determines that quagga subspecies have morphologically graded into the Burchell’s zebra species with indistinguishable skeleton features. As there is no location data involved in the study, thus by looking into Burchell’s zebra and stuffed quagga, it became impossible to segregate the two species on basis of structure, feature and pattern.

Taxonomy and Evolution of Quagga

Taxonomy

A dutch naturalist, Pieter Boddaert, in the year 1778 has originally classified the quagga as a distinct species and given a biological name Equus quagga. Before 1778, all the plains and mountain zebras including quaggas were categorised in subgenus Hippotigris. After much debate occurred around the quaggas, finally, a British zoologist named Reginald Innes Pocock in the year 1902 has claimed that the quagga is the subspecies of plains zebra. Burchell’s cording to the historical study the name quagga was derived from another native word “Khoikhoi” which was then transcribed into “kwahaah” and “ougga” which remained as a colloquial term for plains Zebra. The fun fact about quagga is that it was scientifically named much before the plains zebra and then the trinomial name for quagga was modified to E. quagga quagga. Eventually, the other subspecies of the plains zebra was classified under E. quagga quagga. 

Because the southmost extinct population of the Burchell’s zebra that is now classified as Equus quagga Bruchellii was initially termed as Equus bruchellii bruchellii, thought to be a subspecies of quaggas and sometimes it was considered as a full species of genus E. bruchellii. Thus the taxonomy of the quagga specimen became more complicated to determine. Another northern extinct species of zebra called Damara Zebra that was named Equus quagga antiquorum was later changed to Equus quagga Bruchellii after it was discovered that they share the same taxon. Thus all these extinct species was once believed to be a very close similarity to quagga as they flaunted the same stripe pattern dominating head and neck but camouflaging with the base coat at the hind area.

Quagga subspecies are classified based on their varying stripling patterns and all these attributes of individual variation were limited within the same population and didn’t go beyond that. For instance, the E.q. danielli and Hippotigris was first illustrated based on this aberrant quagga specimen. One of the studies related to the measurement of the cranium (main segment of the skull) in the year 1980 has indicated it is relative to the horse (Equus ferus caballus) but that was later denoted as an incorrect study. Thus the taxonomical study in earlier days was difficult as the taxonomists in early years used the skull of donkey or horse in the mould as a supplement of the specimen being studied in the case the original was unavailable.

Evolution of Extinct Quagga

It is very difficult to study the fossils for identification and representation of the record of quagga as an individual specimen because it was collected at the time when all the zebras were classified as quaggas. Equus mauitanicus fossil skull was discovered in Nigeria that indicated both the characteristics of a quagga and the plains zebra, but it was so badly smashed that no definite conclusion of the origin could be drawn from it. The first DNA analysis under the genetic study of quagga determined that it is related to zebra more than that of horse and the mountain zebras share the ancestors with that of quagga and are of the same family line which was evolved and divided much later. 

Another immunological study was carried out the next year to determine that quaggas are closely related to plains zebras than that any other zebra species. It was drawn from a study of the mtDNA that suggested that the quagga has a diverged range of 2% per million years as that of the plains zebra. But in the year 1999 after a thorough cranial measurement study performed only to conclude that the quaggas are not similar to the plains zebra as the latter belongs to the category as mountain zebra. 

After a study published in 2004, the quaggas were classified as the subspecies of the zebras on basis of their skin texture and skull dimensions. Another genetic study about quaggas published in the year 2005 has reinforced the classification of quaggas as the subspecies of zebras. The quaggas become distinct from the plains zebra during the Pleistocene era that was ranged from 120,000 to 290,000 years ago. The pattern and coat within the striplings of quaggas evolved rapidly either because they were geographically isolated or quickly adapted to the drier weather. It is even noticeable that as the species of zebra extend southwards their stripling stat becoming more faded and the quaggas were the utmost southern living species. 

Finally in 2018, a study based on the morphological features of plain zebra of the southern end published that there is no difference between the quaggas and the plains zebra and there is no evidence of the subspecies based on the morphology of the two species exists. 

Ecology and Behaviour of Quagga Animal

The quagga was the southmost living species of plains zebra and was completely herbivorous in nature. They mainly habitat near the Orange River. They were mostly gazers who preferred either the grassland or the interior of the arid scrubbers of the Karoo falls in the southern region of Africa. Presently the province forms a part of the northern, eastern and western cape of the free state. They were restricted to a local geological location as it was full of flora and fauna. They always preferred to move in a lean manner in a herd of 20 to 50 quaggas at a time. 

The quaggas were considered similar to that of the Burchell’s zebras as they commonly shattered the same geographical location that falls between Vaal and Orange river. This relation between the two is just a theory as there is no evidence of them being crossbred. There is also a chance that it might have shared a small piece of the same geographical location with another species called Hartmann’s mountain zebra biologically identified as Equus zebra hartmannae. As there is no practical study is based on the striplings of the zebra species, therefore it is very difficult to determine the cause of the lack of striplings at the rare side of the quaggas. 

Many scientists have provided assumptions that the striplings are pattered in a way to protect themselves from the predator as a self-defence mechanism. Another reason is to protect themselves from bites of the flies that repel the striped pattern. The third reason is that the striplings acted as the identification mark during the stampedes of various species of zebra in a single location. The striplings guided the members of the same species to follow the other member of the family and are not lost. But one of the major pieces of evidence proves that the stripes of the zebras act as a thermoregulator to cool down their body and the quaggas lost them due to living in cooler regions. Another study with sexual dimorphism of quaggas in the year 2020, suggested that the dimorphic size of the female quaggas were larger than that of the stallions because of the cold and drought situation in the Karoo plateau that was even worse during the ice age. Thus the extreme weather conditions have resulted in the restricted evaluation with the coat colour and the sexual dimorphism.