Quagga (redirected from Quagga zebra)

quagga (kwăg`ə), extinct type of zebra. It formerly inhabited open plains in S Africa, where its range overlapped that of the common zebra (Equus burchelli). Its coat was sandy brown and its legs and tail whitish; only its head, neck, and shoulders were dark-striped. Living in herds and competing with domestic sheep for grass, quaggas were exterminated in the 19th cent.; the last died in 1883 in the Amsterdam Zoo. Recent analyses of DNA (genetic material) from a museum specimen indicate that the quagga is almost certainly a variant of the common zebra rather than a separate species (E. quagga) as was once believed. Quaggas are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Perissodactyla, family Equidae.

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quagga

a recently extinct member of the horse family (Equidae), Equus quagga, of southern Africa: it had a sandy brown colouring with zebra-like stripes on the head and shoulders

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Quagga 

(Equus quagga), a species of zebra.

The quagga is found in southern Africa. There are five subspecies, differentiated by color. The quagga proper (E. quaggaquagga) was distinguished from other zebras in having less strongly developed transverse stripes on its trunk and legs. It became extinct in the wild around 1860, and the last one died in the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883. Other subspecies of quagga have transverse stripes across the entire body. Burchell’s quagga (E.quagga burchelli) became extinct in 1910. Chapman’s zebra (E.quagga antiquorum ), Selous’ zebra (E. quagga selousi) and Grant’s zebra (E. quagga boehmi) are found both in natural conditions and on wildlife preserves.