The Quagga Project is an effort by a group in South Africa to use selective breeding to create a group of Burchell's zebras (Equus quagga burchellii) that look like the extinct quagga (Equus quagga quagga).

History

In 1955, Lutz Heck wrote a book called Großwild im Etoshaland in which he proposed that careful breeding of plains zebras might create an animal similar to the extinct quagga, which had less striping and a brownish color. In 1971, Reinhold Rau studied quagga specimens in European museums and decided to try to re-breed the quagga. Rau asked several scientists and park officials for help, but they were mostly negative because no living quagga descendants remained, and the quagga’s genetic traits were not found in modern zebras. Rau did not give up, as he believed the quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra. In 1984, DNA tests showed that the quagga was indeed a subspecies of the plains zebra.

After these DNA results were published in 1984, more people became supportive of the quagga re-breeding idea. In March 1986, a project committee was formed after influential people joined the effort. In March 1987, nine zebras were chosen and captured from Etosha National Park in Namibia. On April 24, 1987, these zebras were moved to a special breeding area at the Nature Conservation farm "Vrolijkheid" near Robertson, South Africa. This began the quagga re-breeding project.

More zebras were added to the project if they had lighter stripes, to help the animals develop fewer stripes over time. Zebras that did not show quagga-like traits were released into Addo Elephant National Park.

As the number of zebras grew, the project had to leave the "Vrolijkheid" farm. In October 1992, six zebras were moved to land with enough natural grass for food, which lowered feeding costs. In 1993, the remaining zebras were moved to two other locations. On June 29, 2000, the Quagga Project Association, led by chairman Mike Cluver, and South African National Parks, led by CEO Mavuso Msimang, signed a cooperation agreement. This agreement changed the Quagga Project from a private effort to an officially supported and logistically backed project.

Project milestones

The Project's first young zebra was born on December 9, 1988. On January 20, 2005, Henry, the first young zebra with a visible pattern of fewer stripes that resembles the quagga, was born. The first fifth-generation young zebra was born in December 2013. It has been suggested that zebras with the least stripe patterns should be called "Rau quaggas" to honor Reinhold Rau's work on the project and to differentiate these animals from the original, extinct quagga.

In March 2016, the Quagga Project reported 116 zebras in 10 locations, some near Cape Town. Of these 116 zebras, six currently have a strongly reduced stripe pattern. The goal is to create a population of about 50 zebras with this pattern and move them to a protected area within their former natural habitat. The zebras with a quagga-like stripe pattern are named Henry, Freddy, DJ14, Nina J, FD15, and Khumba.