Interesting Trivia: Quagga history
The quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in South Africa. Hence our company can be thought of as named 'a-zebra'. Quagga were differentiated from other zebras by their unique coloration, which featured stripes only on the front part of its body, with the rear portion being brown.
The quagga was first described by the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert in 1785, and it quickly became a well-known animal in Europe, where it was often exhibited in zoos and menageries. However, the quagga's range was restricted to the southern part of Africa, and it was never as abundant or widely distributed as other African ungulates.
The quagga's decline began in the early 19th century, when European settlers began to encroach on its habitat and hunt it for its meat and hide. The quagga's unique coloration also made it a target for collectors, who sought to obtain specimens for their private collections.By the late 19th century, the quagga had been hunted to extinction, with the last wild specimen being shot in the late 1870s.
However, a few captive quaggas survived in zoos and private collections until the early 20th century, when the last known individual died in the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883.In recent years, efforts have been made to "revive" the quagga through selective breeding of plains zebras that display quagga-like traits (see photo from the Quagga Project), based on genetic analysis of quagga specimens. While these animals are not true quaggas, they are often referred to as "quaggas" for the sake of simplicity.
The quagga was first described by the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert in 1785, and it quickly became a well-known animal in Europe, where it was often exhibited in zoos and menageries. However, the quagga's range was restricted to the southern part of Africa, and it was never as abundant or widely distributed as other African ungulates.
The quagga's decline began in the early 19th century, when European settlers began to encroach on its habitat and hunt it for its meat and hide. The quagga's unique coloration also made it a target for collectors, who sought to obtain specimens for their private collections.By the late 19th century, the quagga had been hunted to extinction, with the last wild specimen being shot in the late 1870s.
However, a few captive quaggas survived in zoos and private collections until the early 20th century, when the last known individual died in the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883.In recent years, efforts have been made to "revive" the quagga through selective breeding of plains zebras that display quagga-like traits (see photo from the Quagga Project), based on genetic analysis of quagga specimens. While these animals are not true quaggas, they are often referred to as "quaggas" for the sake of simplicity.
