Zebra stripes. Why are zebras striped? Amazing Zebra Quagga Long Journey on a Short Road

• Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
• Subclass: Theria Parker et Haswell, 1879= Viviparous mammals, real beasts
• Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872= Placental, higher beasts
• Superorder: Ungulata = Ungulates
• Order: Perissodactyla Owen, 1848 = Odd-toed, odd-toed
• Family: Equidae Gray, 1821 = Horse

Species: Equus quagga = Quagga.

Many of you read stories English writer Mine Reed on the hunter's travels and adventures South Africa. The heroes of his books show extraordinary ingenuity and endurance, get out of the most dangerous and hopeless situations in which they find themselves during hunting wanderings. One day, the family of a Dutch settler found themselves in a completely wild area. Their horses, bitten by the tsetse fly, fell ill and died. But young hunters managed to catch and train quaggas, the most common South African ungulates, to the saddle.

Last living quagga. Amsterdam Zoo, 1883

At the first glance at the quagga, it is difficult to get rid of the impression that in front of you is a kind of hybrid of a horse, a donkey and a zebra. Stripes on the head and neck make it look like a zebra, light legs give it a resemblance to a donkey, and a solid buckwheat croup resembles a horse. However, the physique, head shape, short standing mane and tail with a tassel at the end give out a real zebra in the animal, however, unusually colored.

The literature has repeatedly cited information about tame, circled quaggas, but in general, zebras are difficult to tame. They are wild, vicious, protected from enemies. powerful teeth and more often in front than in hind hooves. There have been cases when a person received serious injuries from zebra bites.

Once upon a time, herds of thousands of quaggs shook the expanses of the South African steppe - the veld with thunder of hooves. All travelers of the past knew that quagga is the most normal view zebras south of the Limpopo River. Like other relatives, she led a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving in search of food - grassy vegetation. During the period of seasonal migrations to new pastures, small shoals of animals merged into large herds, often even mixed aggregations of different types herbivores.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the situation began to gradually change. The Dutch colonists, the Boers, who landed on the southern tip of the mainland, began to push the inhabitants of the wild further north, occupying land for pastures, crops and farms. The first rifle shots sounded in the veld.

It is to this period that Mine Reed's narrative belongs. It would seem that nothing threatened the quagga - it was a useless trophy, since it did not have either tasty meat, or beautiful horns, like antelopes, or valuable skin, like predators. Occasionally white settlers fed quagga meat to native slaves, animal skin was used for belts, and waterskins were sometimes made from the stomach. True, cattle breeders considered the quagga, like other ungulates, a competitor to their livestock and at times staged grand raids, destroying hundreds of animals.

And in the middle of the 19th century, the situation worsened even more. England took over the Cape Colony, the Boers were forced to move to inner regions South Africa. Now flaring up, then fading, there were battles between the Boers and the British, a constant war was waged by the Europeans against the indigenous population. From Europe came farmers, merchants, soldiers, adventurers. Finally, diamond placers were discovered in South Africa, the richest deposits of gold, lead, and uranium ores. The rapid development of the territory began, in the once empty places there were mines, mines, towns, cities. The virgin region in a short time turned into a densely populated industrial area.

The most famous of the extinct African animals due to human fault was the quagga. The last individuals were killed around 1880, and the world's last quagga died in 1883 at the Amsterdam Zoo.

Many of you read the stories of the English writer Mine Reed about the travels and adventures of a hunter in South Africa. The heroes of his books show extraordinary ingenuity and endurance, get out of the most dangerous and hopeless situations in which they find themselves during hunting wanderings. One day, the family of a Dutch settler found themselves in a completely wild area. Their horses, bitten by the tsetse fly, fell ill and died. But young hunters managed to catch and train quaggas, the most common South African ungulates, to the saddle.

Last living quagga. Amsterdam Zoo, 1883

At the first glance at the zebra quagga (lat. Equus quagga) it is difficult to get rid of the impression that in front of you is a kind of hybrid of a horse, a donkey and a zebra. Stripes on the head and neck make it look like a zebra, light legs give it a resemblance to a donkey, and a solid buckwheat croup resembles a horse. However, the physique, the shape of the head, a short standing mane and a tail with a tassel at the end give out a real animal in an animal, however, unusually colored.

In the literature, information has been repeatedly cited about hand-trained quaggs, but in general they are difficult to tame. They are wild, vicious, they protect themselves from enemies with powerful teeth and more often with front than hind hooves. There have been cases when a person received serious injuries from zebra bites.

Once upon a time, herds of thousands of quaggs shook the expanses of the South African steppe - the veld with thunder of hooves. All travelers of the past knew that the quagga is the most common species of zebra that lives south of the Limpopo River. Like other relatives, she led a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving in search of food - grassy vegetation. During the period of seasonal migrations to new pastures, small shoals of animals merged into large herds, often even mixed aggregations of different types of herbivores were formed.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the situation began to gradually change. The Dutch colonists, the Boers, who landed on the southern tip of the mainland, began to push the inhabitants of the wild further north, occupying land for pastures, crops and farms. The first rifle shots sounded in the veld.

It is to this period that Mine Reed's narrative belongs. It would seem that nothing threatened the quagga - she was a worthless trophy, since she did not possess any delicious meat, nor beautiful horns, like antelopes, nor valuable skins, like predators. Occasionally white settlers fed quagga meat to native slaves, animal skin was used for belts, and waterskins were sometimes made from the stomach. True, cattle breeders considered the quagga, like other ungulates, a competitor to their livestock and from time to time staged grandiose raids, destroying hundreds of animals.

And in the middle of the 19th century, the situation worsened even more. England took over the Cape Colony, the Boers were forced to move to the interior of South Africa. Now flaring up, then fading, there were battles between the Boers and the British, a constant war was waged by the Europeans against the indigenous population. From Europe came farmers, merchants, soldiers, adventurers. Finally, diamond placers were discovered in South Africa, the richest deposits of gold, lead, and uranium ores. The rapid development of the territory began, in the once empty places there were mines, mines, towns, cities. The virgin region in a short time turned into a densely populated industrial area.

The most famous of the extinct African animals due to human fault was the quagga. The last individuals were killed around 1880, and the world's last quagga died in 1883 at the Amsterdam Zoo.

The quagga is a equid-hoofed animal that was once thought to be a separate species of zebra, but is now confirmed to be a subspecies of the Burchell zebra.

The quagga and modern differ only in that the zebra has a completely striped body color, and the quagga had a striped color only in front (behind - the color is bay). The length of the body of a quagga zebra is 180 cm.

The habitat was South Africa.

The Boers (the people who inhabited these lands in those days) killed these animals because of the strongest skin.

Also, the quagga is actually the only extinct animal that was tamed by man and used to ... protect herds of other domestic animals. Quagga zebras, much earlier than other domestic animals, felt the approach of a predator and warned people with a sonorous “kuaha” click, from which they got their name.

The last zebra to live in wild nature was killed back in 1878, and in 1883 the world's population lost the last quagga in the Amsterdam Zoo. All that remains of the quagga is 19 skins, 2-3 photos and several paintings.

In 1987, with the participation of expert zoologists, veterinarians, breeders and geneticists, a project was launched to restore the quagga zebra, as a result of a long work, 9 animals of this species were bred by the selection method, which were placed in the Etosha Park (Namibia).

In January 2005, Henry's horse, a representative of the third generation, finally saw the light of day. quagga.

It looked much more like a typical quagga than some of the museum pieces made from natural quagga hide.

Scientists are now convinced that the project to restore the quagga is a success and that soon the quagga will again inhabit the expanses of South Africa.

Surely, many adults and children with all their hearts would like to see the quagga - an amazing animal that combines the features of a horse, donkey and zebra. But unfortunately, the quagga died out at the end of the 19th century, and today you can look at a wonderful animal only from the pages of a book.

Inhabitant of the South African steppe

quagga

However, these outwardly similar animals had a different character. Zebras are wild and vicious by nature, while the quagga is more friendly. There is evidence that quaggs were repeatedly tamed. Animals became excellent herd guards, they were able to notice a predator from afar and warn their owners about it, loudly exclaiming “kuaha”. This protective call served as the name of the animal.

Quaggs have lived on earth since ancient times, but the first information about them came to Europe only at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. In 1877, a young researcher, Francois Levaillant, went to Africa and spoke about many unknown animals, including the earthen wolf, viverra, quagga, etc. The scientist confirmed all the information described with sketches. Francois Levaillant speaks of quaggas as amazing zebras living in the area between the Orange and Vaal rivers.

Herds of quaggs led a nomadic lifestyle. In search of food, they traveled short distances along local rivers, and returned back. Talking about quaggas, Francois Levaillant calls them the result of mating a wild horse and a zebra. The researcher emphasizes that the quagga was beautiful and graceful, somewhat smaller in physique than a zebra.

Herds of thousands of quaggs still ran freely across the expanses, but already at that time they became the prey of hunters. But the poachers were not locals, who killed single individuals for the purpose of subsistence, and not even travelers who sometimes had to eat quagga meat. No, such hunting for prey did not affect the population in any way. The disappearance of the quaggas, as a species, is attributed to the Boers, the descendants of the Dutch colonists. Having landed on the African continent, these people began to cultivate the land, build their dwellings, farms, and fence off pastures. Taking the territory, the Boers pushed the animals further north, although this was not the reason that the quagga died out.

If the quagga had remained to live, it would have brought great benefits in the household. A small and graceful animal does not require a lot of food, but still remains strong and hardy. In this aspect, the quagga could be a good alternative to the horse.

The main reason for the extinction of animals is their purposeful destruction by people. The Boers grew grain and soon realized that quagga skins were good wineskins for storing cereals, stomachs were good for storing water, and meat for food. Elements of clothing were also made from the skin of animals - belts, bandages, capes. Hunters brutally destroyed entire herds of quaggs. Thousands of them shot them with guns, drove them to the cliffs, where the animals crashed against the stones, and also made deep pits for rounding up.

In 1810-1815, the expanses of Africa were explored by the English naturalist Burchell, it is he who describes all the ruthlessness of the traps organized to catch quaggs. The scientist notes that the pits were wide at the top and narrowed towards the bottom. Once there, the animal could not even move. Each pit was carefully camouflaged, and their number was incalculable. It is impossible not to say that the local authorities nevertheless took some animals under protection (among them is the Kara mountain zebra).

But for some reason, no one thought about the number of quaggs. This mishandling led to complete extinction kind. By the end of the 19th century, single individuals of quaggs were brought to European zoos, but their life outside of nature was short-lived. So, on August 12, 1883, on a foggy morning, the last quagga in the Amsterdam Zoo died. The dead female was lying near the very entrance to the cage without even waiting for the morning feed. To date, only one complete quagga skeleton, 19 skins and several skulls have survived. The remains of the animal have become the property of the largest museums of natural history.

The quagga zebra is extinct, and this has been proven, but still, some adventurers claim to have seen a whole herd of quaggas already in the 21st century. The expanses of Africa have not yet been completely traversed by man, and no one knows for sure what is hidden behind the dense thickets of these mysterious places.

At the end of the 20th century, world scientists launched a project to restore the quagg as a species. In 2005, a descendant of the quagga stallion Henry and several other individuals, exactly similar to their progenitor, were bred by breeding. In the future, scientists want to completely restore the species by breeding animals and settling new quaggas across the African expanses. The project is developing successfully and has every chance of success.

In 1917, a certain Major Manning lived in Africa, who claims that he saw a large herd of quaggs in the desert regions of Namibia. These rumors were not given any importance, but the locals also say that it was the quaggs that they met in the Kaokoveld area.

Is the quagga alive, an animal that people appreciated only after many years? This question will worry adventurers for a long time to come. In the meantime, everyone can follow the species restoration project, which is already showing good results today.