[12][26] These areas were known for distinctive flora and fauna and high amounts of endemism.[25][27]. Only six of the 100 animals on the reserve currently hold this title, but when the number reaches 50 there are plans for the herd to live together in one reserve. The last specimen was featured on a Dutch stamp in 1988. The rear was brown and without stripes, and appeared more horse-like. Now, a group of scientists outside of Cape Town are bringing it back. The last population in the wild, in the Orange Free State, was extirpated in the late 1870s. An account of this was published in 1820 by the Royal Society. In fact, it looks like a cross between a horse and a zebra, with stripes only on its head and neck that disappear as they approach the brownish hindquarters of the animal. [5] Fossil skulls of Equus mauritanicus from Algeria have been claimed to show affinities with the quagga and the plains zebra, but they may be too badly damaged to allow definite conclusions to be drawn from them. The Quagga Project is trying to recreate the phenotype of hair coat pattern and related characteristics by selectively breeding Burchell's zebras. The quagga was native to desert areas of South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the 1870s. And even if it is that feasible, do we really need to do it, or should we do it? [24], Living in the very southern end of the plains zebra's range, the quagga had a thick winter coat that moulted each year. Once this number reaches 50 there are plans for the herd to live together in one reserve. "If that's the case," he said, "there may have been other genetic aspects that kept them from interbreeding regularly, and they may have actually been a distinct species. [8][27] This is disputed,[8] and there is no evidence that they interbred. The last known surviving quagga died in Amsterdam zoo on August 12, 1883, having been exhibited there since 1867. This article was most recently revised and updated by, quagga - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11). "What we're saying is you can try and do something or you could just not," argues Gregor. "Now, it is just within the bounds of foreseeable possibility. [30] The quagga had disappeared from much of its range by the 1850s. Differences in hind quarter stripes may have aided species recognition during stampedes of mixed herds, so that members of one subspecies or species would follow its own kind. The last living Quagga, a mare, died in full sight of the world, in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883. Running down the center of the back was a broad, dark stripe – much like an asses’.