South Africa has a small ruck of animals gallop its plain stitch that resemble the now - extinct Equus quagga . In term of body shape and sizing , quaggas used to resemble their cousin-german , the plains zebras . However , only the front one-half of quaggas had the zebra ’s characteristic black and blanched striping ; the rearward one-half of their pelage was shaded Robert Brown .
This singular - looking appearance captivated a mathematical group of scientists , who for the past 30 age have been put to work on the “ Quagga Project ” in an effort to “ revive ” the extinct metal money – at least superficially . By selectively breed plains zebras with the most quagga - like characteristic , they have tried “ to recover at least the cistron creditworthy for the quagga ’s characteristic striping pattern , ” harmonise to theproject ’s website .
The projection has now selectively bred four to five generation , with each new batch ’s coloring becoming more quagga - like in appearance .
“ In fact we have over the course of 4 , 5 coevals image a reform-minded step-down in clean , and latterly an increment in the dark-brown background color , demonstrate that our original idea was in fact right , " said Eric Harley , the project ’s loss leader and a professor at Cape Town University , toCNN .
The six or so animals have been dubbed “ Rau quaggas , ” named after one of the project ’s founders Reinhold Rau .
A Equus quagga , the extinct torpedo - coinage of zebra . Mare , London , Regent ’s Park Zoo / Wikimedia Commons
Criticsof the projection consider the investigator ’ time and resources could have been better pass elsewhere , such as working to keep currently scupper species from the extermination that befell the quaggas .
Professor Harley disagrees . He suggests toCNNthat “ If we can retrieve the beast or retrieve at least the appearance of the quagga , then we can say we ’ve righted a legal injury . ”
TheQuagga Project websitestates a similar goal : “ The project is aimed at rectifying a tragic mistake made over a hundred years ago through greed and brusk sightedness . It is hoped that if this revitalisation is successful , in due course herds showing the phenotype of the original Equus quagga will again wander the plain of the Karoo . ”
Whether the projection is a worthy ode to an nonextant metal money , or a abuse of meter and resources , remains a topic of disputation .
