Extinct Zebras May Be Back
PAUL HARRIS Associated Press Writer
THE KAROO, South Africa (AP) - Cresting a rise on the bumpy game park
road, the Land-Rover momentarily startles a herd of seven odd-looking
zebras.
"There they are! Wonderful, wonderful!'' exclaimed park ranger
Theresa Huber, cutting the engine so as not to scare off the skittish
creatures munching on grass and leaves in the semi-desert Karoo
National Park.
The strange zebras, with only faint stripes on the hind quarters and a
brownish tinge, have not been seen in this vast, arid region in the
middle of South Africa for more than 100 years.
Known as quaggas (pronounced KWOK-ka) the animals were hunted to
extinction at the end of the 19th century. The last true quagga, a
scrawny-looking mare, died in a Dutch zoo on Aug. 12, 1883.
South African scientists hope to resurrect the quagga by breeding
zebras with similar characteristics in the color and extent of their
striping.
In March, 11 animals from the breeding program were released into the
Karoo, where millions once roamed.
German-born taxidermist Reinhold Rau came up with the idea to
resurrect the quagga after remounting a stuffed specimen at the South
African Museum in Cape Town.
While removing the skin, Rau discovered dried blood and muscle tissue
- material that preserved DNA, the genetic blueprint for life.
DNA analysis eventually proved that quaggas were a subspecies of the
plains zebra, not a separate species. This meant quagga genes could
still lurk in plains zebras.
Using funds raised privately from donations, Rau scoured game reserves
in South Africa and neighboring Namibia for plains zebra that looked
most like quaggas.
In 1987, selective breeding began, aiming to concentrate the quagga
genes in successive generations. The program now has 53 animals, and
many are starting to look more and more like quaggas.
Sitting in a laboratory at the South African Museum, Rau says he is
driven by a desire to put right a terrible wrong.
"The quagga became extinct through man's ignorance and greed. It
wasn't a natural occurrence,'' he said in a clipped German accent.
"It is our moral duty to rectify that mistake.''
On the lab wall is a poster with rows of pictures of the 24 known
stuffed quagga specimens. They are graded according to striping and
color.
Rau believes some of the animals in the program could now be compared
to examples on the poster. But he shies away from saying he has
created a true quagga.
"We are aiming for the center of the range. We will call
offspring a quagga when they reach the middle of that range (on the
poster),'' he said.
The brightest hope is Louis, the scheme's first second-generation
foal. Rau believes full quaggas will emerge by the fourth generation.
Critics say it is impossible to know whether animals produced are true
quaggas, since they were never studied by modern science. Aside from
color and stripes, no other defining quagga characteristics, such as
behavioural patterns or diet, were ever noted and may have been lost
to history.
Scientists involved in the scheme accept the point, but argue that -
with no living specimens to examine - it is futile to worry about
questions that can't be answered.
"It is almost irrelevant,'' said Professor Eric Harley, a
geneticist at the University of Cape Town who works on the project.
"If we get an individual that matches (coloration and striping),
then we can say it is a quagga, because that is the only way we can
now define them.''
Scientists are divided about why the quagga developed its unusual
coat.
Many believe the quagga evolved camouflage to match the dusty,
sun-burned plains and mountains of the Karoo and avoid predators who
would easily spot a black and white animal.
Others believe zebra stripes help avoid the disease-carrying tsetse
fly, which cannot see objects broken up by patterns. The Karoo is too
dry for the tsetse fly and so the quagga may simply have begun to shed
stripes.
The quagga was shaped by its desolate, but beautiful Karoo
environment. Rau says putting animals from the program back into their
natural home was an important step.
"For the first time quaggas in the making are treading that
ground again',' he said.
