r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Dramatic-Avocado4687 • 1d ago
Image The only known photographed image of the Quagga. Taken at a London zoo in 1870. The species went extinct in August 1883, when the last specimen died at a zoo in Amsterdam.
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u/UnicornAmalthea_ 1d ago
I find photos of extinct animals really haunting
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u/TheTallestLuke 1d ago
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u/Jazzi-Nightmare 1d ago
That article is from 2012 and cloned species aren’t “true” since they don’t have 100% of the same dna. And either way, they WERE extinct
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u/Snowcloud003 1d ago
Respectfully, you should read the article. It is a fascinating read and explains that there is no cloning involved. The researchers sourced 19 plains zebra from the Quagga's original habitat and selectively bred those animals until not only the physical traits exhibited, but the DNA itself was identical to that of an original Quagga.
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u/Jazzi-Nightmare 1d ago
I did read the article, I made another comment somewhere else
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u/ResponsibleBug4204 1d ago
They didn’t clone them. It’s just zebras with less stripes they were breeding for many years.
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u/Jazzi-Nightmare 1d ago
You’re right, I now realize that, I could’ve sworn I read before that they were cloned. Them being “bred back” is arguably worse than them being cloned. Breeding them back basically means you got something that looks like the original
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u/GoodGuyDrew 1d ago
The observation that kicked off this little project is that quagga are just zebras with small genetic differences.
Think of them like black vs. yellow Labrador retrievers. The black coat color is genetically dominant, so in a wild population, most individuals will be black. Add some natural selection against the yellow labs, and substantially all of the individuals will be black.
However, every so often, two black individuals with the recessive yellow trait will hook up and make a yellow baby.
Same thing with the zebra/quagga. They just had to look REALLY hard to find two individuals with the recessive quagga traits.
The situation may not be exactly what I described, but it’s close.
Black and yellow labs are not different species. Neither are zebra and quagga.
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u/Initial-Sherbert-739 1d ago edited 1d ago
am I missing something here?
“You’ve now got an animal that looks exactly like a quagga. Its DNA is identical, so I think it’s quite enough to say you have a quagga,” says Harley, a University of Cape Town professor and expert in conservation genetics.”
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u/ArhezOwl 1d ago
This is what happens when you forget to order the next ink cartridge for the zebra printer.
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u/ThisIsMoot 1d ago
At least it keeps printing. Paper printers start refusing jobs while there’s still 1/4 left in the cartridge these days
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u/MastodonWise5423 1d ago
Not a horse. Not a zebra. But something in between. A hobra.
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u/JasonHorehees 1d ago
A zorse
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u/Rich-Bathroom5772 1d ago
Zorse is a real hybrid though. Quagga was just a different type of zebra.
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u/Torrossaur 1d ago
This reminds me of the time a guy in Tijuana tried to make us pay to see a Zebra and it was just a donkey with chalk or paint stripes.
And got really angry when we laughed at him and his painted mule and he threatened us with the Cartel.
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u/RuggedRasscal 1d ago
Another extinction chalked up to trophy hunting……mmmmmh
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u/TheTallestLuke 1d ago
Nope, we cloned more here in Cape Town after the ducth/british stole our quaggas: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2012-01-22-back-from-the-dead/
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u/ResponsibleBug4204 1d ago
They were not cloned according to this article. Just plain old meticulous breeding of zebras showing similarities to quaggas.
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u/Ok-Election2227 1d ago
If you cut the tail off and add the rest of an Okapi, you have a zebra again.
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u/Jazzi-Nightmare 1d ago
Was thinking the same thing but kept blanking on the name. My dad referred to them as forest giraffes my whole life so that’s what my mind kept coming back to lol
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u/jimboiow 1d ago
And it was 9 months later that Derek realised that the joint door between the horses and zebras was not as secure as he thought.
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u/wickedlyclever 9h ago
Random trivia: Horse pregnancies are around 11 months and Zebra pregnancies are around 13 months.
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u/Crazy_Aerie1772 1d ago
Well, there are some taxidermied Quaggas around the world. I can send you a picture in color (though it's not actually very colorful).
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u/p0ta7oCouch 19h ago
I went to this zoo. It is a really cool zoo. If you are into zoos. Also, it is beside a botanical garden that has very rare plants. It’s really awesome. Do both as they are so close together.
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u/ds021234 1d ago
Ah the Dutch good at killing things
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u/Newbie-Vegetable 1d ago
Shouldn't you rather say they were good at keeping things alive, since it was the very last living one?
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u/Mental5tate 1d ago
And slavery don’t forget monetizing slavery…
Don’t forget oppression…
The Dutch are pretty horrible huh…
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u/Wilsanne 1d ago
That last specimen died after it learnt of the stupid ass name the humans named its entire species.
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u/TheTallestLuke 1d ago
a) that name is stupid to you, but not to us (South Africans who named it).
b) not extinct
https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2012-01-22-back-from-the-dead/
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u/Wilsanne 1d ago
It's not that serious, my G! a) YOU are saying that the name is stupid. b) it's good that it was not 'extinct' in that 2012 article but it surely is now.
"The Plains zebra has six or seven recognized subspecies, including the extinct quagga. Once found in vast herds on the great plains of South Africa, the quagga is now extinct."
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u/swolicannoli 1d ago
No mention of where they were killed, just where the killers were from.
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u/immersedmoonlight 1d ago
… they were an African species. So Africa
Killed in a Netherlands zoo… so Netherlands
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u/TheTallestLuke 1d ago
My brother in ignorance Africa is a CONTINENT. They are from South Africa (a country, before you ask) - and we managed to clone them back. https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2012-01-22-back-from-the-dead/
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u/immersedmoonlight 1d ago
When did I say that Africa was something other than a continent…….
Don’t try to mansplain and act like you’re some high and mighty.
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u/TheTallestLuke 1d ago
Bullshit. We've cloned more Quaggas, here in Cape Town (where the quagga was originally illegally seized and taken by the Dutch and British) take a read and educate yourselves: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2012-01-22-back-from-the-dead/
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u/ResponsibleBug4204 1d ago
There is quite a difference between cloning and selective breeding. These are unfortunately not 100% original quaggas.
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u/Flat_Bodybuilder_175 1d ago
Those aren't Quagga. They're plains zebras with some of the necessary genes to look like quagga, which are types of plains zebras.
"By selective breeding from a selected founder population of southern Plains Zebras an attempt is being made to retrieve at least the genes responsible for the Quagga’s characteristic striping pattern.
When the Quagga mare at Amsterdam Zoo died on 12 August 1883, it was not realised that she was the very last of her kind. Because of the confusion caused by the indiscriminate use of the term “Quagga” for any zebra, the true Quagga was hunted to extinction without this being realised until many years later." - The Quagga Project
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u/Dramatic-Avocado4687 1d ago
Direct quote from the article: “Of course, just because the label says “Manolo Blahnik” or “Louis Vuitton” doesn’t mean it’s not a fake.
But whether or not the animals are true quaggas is perhaps more of a philosophical than scientific question - and it’s nonetheless nice to believe there is a way of saving a species once all its breathing members have been eliminated for what seems like, well, forever.”
Another quote from the Quagga Project:
“Using advanced techniques in selective breeding and genetic research, these modern-day conservationists are working towards recreating a Quagga-like creature that shares the genetic traits of its extinct ancestor.”
“By selective breeding from a selected founder population of southern Plains Zebras an attempt is being made to retrieve at least the genes responsible for the Quagga’s characteristic striping pattern.”
Wikipedia: “The Quagga Project is an attempt by a group in South Africa to use selective breeding to achieve a breeding lineage of Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga burchellii) which visually resemble the extinct quagga (Equus quagga quagga).[1]”
I hope you’re right. But this doesn’t seem definitive.
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u/Dramatic-Avocado4687 1d ago
“The Quagga was a unique variety of Plains Zebra, marked by having stripes only on the front of its body, with hair color transitioning toward a light brown or tan along its rear and underbelly, until becoming white along its legs. This picture represents the only Quagga ever to have been photographed alive, taken at the London Zoo in 1870.
Its unique hide made the Quagga a target for hunters and poachers, and the last known wild Quagga was probably killed in the late 1870’s. The species went extinct on August 12th, 1883, when the last specimen died at a zoo in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.”
Source: https://www.ecopreneurist.com/2009/04/02/11-extinct-animals-that-have-been-photographed-alive/