The quagga ( Equus quagga quagga ) is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in great numbers in the Highveld of the Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State in South Africa.

The only quagga to have been photographed alive was a mare at the Zoological Society of London's Zoo in Regent's Park in 1870.

The quagga was originally classified as an individual species, Equus quagga, in 1778.

Long before this confusion was sorted out, the quagga had been hunted to extinction for meat, hides, and to preserve feed for domesticated stock.

The last wild quagga was probably shot in the late 1870s, and the last specimen in captivity, a mare, died on August 12, 1883, at the Natura Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.

Because of the confusion between different zebra species, particularly among the general public, the quagga had become extinct before it was realized that it may have been a separate species.

The quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied.

Recent genetic research at the Smithsonian Institution has demonstrated that the quagga was, in fact, not a separate species at all, but diverged from the extremely variable plains zebra, Equus burchelli, between 120, 000 and 290, 000 years ago.

As the quagga was described about thirty years earlier than the plains zebra, it appears that the correct terms are E. quagga quagga for the quagga and E. quagga burchelli for the plains zebra, unless " Equus burchelli " is officially declared to be a nomen conservandum.

After the very close relationship between the quagga and surviving zebras was discovered, the Quagga Project was started by Reinhold Rau ( 1932 – 2006 ) in South Africa to recreate the quagga by selective breeding from plains zebra stock, with the eventual aim of reintroducing them to the wild.

At the time all Zebras were referred to as quagga, so nobody realized that this was the last quagga alive until years later.

Some of the captive-breeding programs for some equids are unusual, in that breeders have been carefully selecting specimens to recreate various recently extinct equids, such as the tarpan and quagga.

This fact suggests that it should be named Equus burchelli quagga ; however, according to the rules of biological nomenclature, where there are two or more alternative names for a single species, the name first used takes priority.

As the quagga was described about thirty years earlier than the Burchell's zebra, it appears that the correct terms are E. quagga quagga for the quagga and E. quagga burchelli for the plains zebra, unless " Equus burchelli " is officially declared to be a nomen conservandum.

The quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied.

The software suite was selected commercially as the routing platform for the Vyatta line of products in its early releases, but later has been replaced with quagga.

The species is named after the quagga, an extinct subspecies of African zebra, possibly because, like the quagga, its stripes fade out towards the ventral side.

The quagga mussel is a prolific breeder, possibly contributing to its spread and abundance.

While plains zebras are much more plentiful, one subspecies, the quagga, became extinct in the late 19th century-though there is currently a plan, called the Quagga Project, that aims to breed zebras that are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back.

The plains zebra ( Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli ) is the most common, and has or had about twelve subspecies distributed across much of southern and eastern Africa.

It, or particular subspecies of it, have also been known as the common zebra, the dauw, Burchell's zebra ( actually the subspecies Equus quagga burchellii ), Chapman's zebra, Wahlberg's zebra, Selous ' zebra, Grant's zebra, Boehm's zebra and the quagga ( another extinct subspecies, Equus quagga quagga ).

One subspecies, the quagga, is now extinct.

They revised the subspecies of the plains zebra Equus quagga.

The type localities of the subspecies Equus quagga burchellii and Equus quagga antiquorum ( the Damara zebra ) are so close to each other that the two are in fact one, and that therefore the older of the two names should take precedence over the younger.

The subspecies Equus quagga burchellii still exists in KwaZulu-Natal and in Etosha.

The first subspecies to be described, the now-extinct quagga, had plain brown hindquarters.

He also wrote " In Lord Morton's famous hybrid from a chestnut mare and male quagga, the hybrid, and even the pure offspring subsequently produced from the mare by a black Arabian sire, were much more plainly barred across the legs than is even the pure quagga.

Hunters have also contributed heavily to the endangerment, extirpation and extinction of many animals, such as the quagga, the Great Auk, Steller's Sea Cow, the thylacine, the bluebuck, the Arabian Oryx, the Caspian and Javan tigers, the Markhor, the Sumatran rhinoceros, the bison, the North American cougar, the Altai Argali sheep, Asian Elephant and many more.

The incorporation of the round goby into native foodwebs, coupled with the goby's ability to consume large numbers of invasive mussels ( zebra and quagga ), may result in greater bioaccumulation of toxins such as PCBs higher in the food chain, since these mussels filter-feed and are known to accumulate persistent contaminants.

Recent genetic research at the Smithsonian Institution has demonstrated that the quagga was in fact not a separate species at all, but diverged from the plains zebra, between 120, 000 and 290, 000 years ago, and suggests that it should be named Equus burchelli quagga.

While official records indicated InGen was just one of any number of small 1980s genetic engineering start-ups, the events of the novel and film revealed to a select group that InGen had discovered a method of cloning dinosaurs and other animals ( including a quagga ) using blood extracted from mosquitoes trapped in amber during various periods in time, ranging from the Mesozoic era to the 1800s.

In January 2007, quagga mussels were discovered at a marina in the Nevada portion of Lake Mead, and two other lakes on the Colorado River, Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu.

Historical cabinets full of stuffed animals are arranged in the upper levels ; among other things one can see one of twenty existing examples of the quagga, which has been extinct since 1883.

The type localities of the subspecies Equus quagga burchellii and Equus quagga antiquorum ( Damara zebra ) are so close to each other that the two are in fact one, and that therefore the older of the two names should take precedence over the younger.

A quagga appears in a sequence in the Soviet Union's animated film The Cat Who Walked by Herself, in which a dog tracks the hoofprints of one, and a cat tells a boy of the Red Book of endangered species, and how Quagga had " her track severed " ( that is, made extinct ) due to Man's selfish actions.

Lake Huron has suffered recently due the introduction of a variety of new invasive species, including zebra and quagga mussels, the spiny water flea, and round gobies.

The plains zebra ( Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli ), also known as the common zebra or Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra.

The quagga was originally classified as a separate species, Equus quagga, in 1778.

Heck was also instrumental in the recreation of an extinct species ( or subspecies ) of zebra called the " quagga ".

The quagga mussel is currently of major concern in the United States as an invasive species.

In recent years, the stocking of redear has found new allies due to the fish's ability to eat quagga mussels, a prominent invasive species in many freshwater drainages.