This Day in History...
On this date in 1883, the world's last known
quagga died in the
Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, and scientists have been trying to bring it back ever since. The quagga looked a lot like a zebra but with stripes only on its front half (in that sense the opposite of an
okapi, which has stripes only on its hindquarters). It was also brown in color.
The Quagga Project has had some success in breeding back; Henry, born in 2005, is the closest we now have to a quagga. But there are also the aptly named
zedonks and
zorses and other members of the
zebroid (zebra hybrid) family, which are generally sterile.
"
So you see! There's no end To the things you might know, Depending how far beyond Zebra you go!" — Dr. Seuss in
On Beyond Zebra!
