Quagga (C/N)

The quagga (Equus quagga quagga) is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra that lived in South Africa. It was long thought to be a distinct species, but recent genetic studies have shown it to be the southernmost subspecies of the plains zebra. It is considered particularly close to Burchell’s zebra.

In both the Jurassic Park and Lost World novels, the quagga is mentioned by several characters as possibly a starting idea for Jurassic Parks dinosaur cloning. In the 1980’s, a piece of quagga hide was discovered and had what remained of it’s DNA analyzed, revealing a large amount of DNA, so much to where the though of cloning the quagga was considered possible.

A quagga specimen, taken in 1870 at the London Zoo.
A quagga specimen, taken in 1870 at the London Zoo.