Quaggas could soon be roaming the plains of Southern Africa once again - even though they became extinct more than a century ago. The birth of a foal at the Vrolijkheid Breeding Centre in Cape Province, South Africa, last month brings the resurrection of the quagga a step closer, say researchers. The foal bears an uncanny likeness to preserved specimens of the quagga, with a rich dark brown background colouring and only poorly developed stripes on its hindquarters.
The last known quagga died in Amsterdam Zoo in 1883. But in 1987 a group of South African researchers established the Vrolijkheid Breeding Centre, with the aim of breeding from poorly striped plains zebra in an attempt to 'retrieve' the quagga.
The myth that the quagga was a species in its own right was laid to rest in the early 1980s by the American geneticist Russell Higuchi. Working in the evolutionary biochemistry ...
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