1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: where we dust off a little piece of history every day. 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Today is August tween. The day was August three. The 5 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: quagga went extinct when the last one in captivity died 6 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: at a zoo in Amsterdam. The quaga was a subspecies 7 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: of plains zebra that lived in South Africa, though it 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: was initially believed to be its own species. It had 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: stripes like other zebras, but it's brown and white stripes 10 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,239 Speaker 1: were limited mainly to the front of its body. At 11 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: the back of the quaga's body, the stripes faded into 12 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: a solid brown or tan colored coat. Its legs and 13 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: tail were also not striped, and they were light in color. 14 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: The name quagga was based on the sound of the 15 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: animals call. Once Europeans began colonizing South Africa, they started 16 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: hunting quagas. They shot and killed quagas for sport, for food, 17 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: and for their coats. They also captured some to herd 18 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: sheep and shipped some out of the country to be 19 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: displayed in zoos. Because the animals were so skittish in 20 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 1: high energy, some farmers used them as guards, and some 21 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: pulled carriages. In the early eighteen hundreds in England, the 22 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 1: vegetation that quags eight was also food for domesticated livestock, 23 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: so quagas were considered competitors of sheep, goats, and other animals. 24 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: The colonists valued the quagas had been sent to zoos. 25 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: Breeding programs were unsuccessful. Quagas were most likely extinct in 26 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: the wild by the late eighteen seventies, and on August twelfth, 27 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty three, the last quagga and captivity a mayor 28 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: held at Amsterdam's the Toda artist Magistro Zoo, died. She 29 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: had been living there since May of eighteen sixty seven. 30 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: The cause of her death is unknown. At the time, 31 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: people did not realize that her death signified the extinction 32 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: of the subspecies, perhaps because so many people used the 33 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: word quagga to refer to all zebras. Only twenty three 34 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: stuffed quagga mounted quagga body parts, seven quagga skeletons, and 35 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: samples of quagga tissue remain. The quagga was the first 36 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: animal that was declared extinct to have his DNA analyzed, 37 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: which is what led to the conclusion that it was 38 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: a subspecies of plains zebra. Scientists determined that some of 39 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,639 Speaker 1: the quagga jeans might still be present in Plaines zebra today. 40 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty seven, the Quagga Project was launched in 41 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: South Africa. The project is an attempt to bring the 42 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: quagga back from extinction using selective breeding from nineteen zebras 43 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: that had fewer stripes on their hind quarters and had 44 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: other quagga characteristics. Quagga bread from these planes zebras can 45 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,279 Speaker 1: have coat patterns that closely resemble those of extinct quagas. 46 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: The first rebred quagga was born in nineteen and the 47 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: project aims to have hundreds of quagga like zebras and 48 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: multiple free ranging populations. Some researchers have argued that quagga 49 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: might have had distinct, non morphological genetically coded characteristics, so 50 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: a selective breeding program could not create a real quagga 51 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: and there's no guarantee that they'd have the same habits 52 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: and behaviors of the estate quagga. But the scientists at 53 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: the Quagga Project say the animals with the same appearance, 54 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: form and structure of the extinct Quagga can justifiably be 55 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: called quaggas. I'm Eve, Jeff Code, and hopefully you know 56 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 57 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 58 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: T D i h C podcast. Thanks for joining me 59 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: on this trip through time. See you here in the 60 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: exact same spot tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 61 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 62 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.