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Post by another specialist on Nov 13, 2005 21:23:50 GMT
Yes the coloration and patterning are very similiar to an Okapi.
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Post by Peter on Nov 15, 2005 12:39:32 GMT
I know, the selective breeding. Scientists cant recover a bit of DNA of preserved specimens of quagga and add it to modified plains zebra cells The can't indeed! We don't know what genetics make the specific colouration of the quagga. But as the photos you've posted show, there are still plain zebras that have a brownish colour, etc. Therefor they can retrieve the genetics by selecting these traits. The quagga was just a subspecies, so their genetics can still be found in the plain zebra populations. The breeding programm has some good results recently, several foals look already very quagga!  |
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Post by another specialist on Nov 15, 2005 15:01:45 GMT
thanks Peter for the info very interesting
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Post by RSN on Nov 15, 2005 16:01:12 GMT
But, if the scientists can breed a quagga identic animal, it will cannot be classified as a quagga, right?
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Post by another specialist on Nov 15, 2005 17:35:05 GMT
if the scientist do breed an quagga it would not be classified as a true quagga it be just a zebra with similiar coloration and pattern and thats it.
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Post by RSN on Nov 15, 2005 18:39:58 GMT
If they can, will these zebras be released to replace quagga's part in enviroiment of S Africa?
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Post by another specialist on Nov 16, 2005 9:24:03 GMT
I'm not sure if they be released they do say they will but i guess this will be in an isolated location away from other zebras or they would simply interbreed and all their hard work will be lost.
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Post by Peter on Nov 16, 2005 9:43:09 GMT
the aim of the project: The Quagga project attempts to breed through selection a population of Plains Zebras, which in its external appearance, and possibly genetically as well, will be closer, if not identical to the former population known as "Quagga", which was exterminated during the second half of the 19th century. This project, started in 1987, is an attempt by a group of dedicated people in South Africa to bring back an animal from extinction and reintroduce it into reserves in its former habitat. For re-introduction into areas formerly inhabited by Quaggas, such animals would undoubtedly be more desirable than any others. How close re-bred Quaggas will eventually be to the original Quaggas genetically, can probably not be determined, as only portions of the mitochondrial DNA of the Quagga are known, and not it’s nuclear DNA. However, since the coat -pattern characteristics are the only criteria by which the Quagga is identified, re-bred animals that demonstrate these coat-pattern characteristics could justifiably be called Quaggas. Source: www.quaggaproject.org/
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Post by Peter on Nov 16, 2005 9:46:48 GMT
Q: Could the Quagga be cloned from old Quagga tissue?A: No; for cloning, live cells are needed. The only genetic material of the Quagga available are portions of mitochondrial DNA. Q: How can a Quagga be bred out of Zebras?A: The Quagga was not an animal all on it’s own, as the name might seem to imply. It was a Zebra, and as modern DNA analysis has shown, not a seperate zebra species either, but one of several subspecies (local forms) of the Plains Zebra, of which most are still living. Therefore selective breeding, aiming at retrieving Quagga genes, believed to be still present in living Plains Zebra populations, might eventually result in individuals which have at least the exterior characteristics of the extinct Quagga. Source: www.quaggaproject.org/.
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Post by another specialist on Nov 16, 2005 22:38:18 GMT
Thanks Peter for clarification on the subject
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Post by Melanie on Jan 29, 2006 21:31:37 GMT
How a zebra lost its stripes: Rapid evolution of the quagga New Haven, Conn. -DNA from museum samples of extinct animals is providing unexpected information on the extent and effect of the Ice Age as well as the path of species evolution, according to a report by scientists from Yale University, the Smithsonian Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The quagga, Equus quagga, a South African relative of horses and zebras, having a front half with zebra-like stripes and a back section like a horse with no marking, became extinct about 100 years ago. The pelt from a quagga museum specimen was the subject of tissue sampling that launched the field of ancient DNA analysis. "Twenty years ago this exact species opened the field of ancient DNA studies on extinct animals," said one of the authors, Gisella Caccone, senior research scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale. "Now, thanks to technological advances in the field, we revisited the story and used a population level approach to this question by analyzing a larger fragment of DNA and multiple specimens." In the past, the quagga has alternatively been described as a species and a subspecies of the Plains zebra.These researchers asked how and when the quagga diverged from all the remaining related horses, zebras, and asses. They compared the genetics, coat color and habitats of existing zebras with related extinct species. The mitochondrial DNA markers from 13 museum specimens, including the only skeleton in museum collections, which is at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, showed that quagga likely diverged from Plains zebra about 120,000 to 290,000 years ago during the Ice Age. These results suggest that the quagga descended from a population of plains zebras that became isolated and the distinct quagga body type and coloring evolved rapidly. This study reveals that the Ice Age was important not just in Europe and North America, but also in Africa. "The rapid evolution of coat color in the quagga could be explained by disrupted gene flow because of geographical isolation, an adaptive response to a drier habitat, or a combination of both of the two forces," said Caccone. ### The research team also included Scott Glaberman at Yale, Jennifer A. Leonard and Robert C. Fleischer from the Smithsonian Institute, Michael Hofreiter and Nadin Rohland from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Citation: Biology Letters (Royal Society of London): (September 22, 2005) www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/yu-haz092605.phpwww.eurekalert.org/images/release_graphics/yu0926.jpg(pic is too large to upload) |
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Post by another specialist on Jan 31, 2006 8:48:55 GMT
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Post by sebbe67 on May 7, 2006 9:38:16 GMT
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Post by another specialist on May 7, 2006 10:12:49 GMT
source for above pic sebbe67?
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Post by another specialist on May 7, 2006 10:16:02 GMT
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Post by RSN on May 20, 2006 21:59:20 GMT
What about Equus quagga isabellinus?  planet-mammiferes.org/In Planet-mammiferes site it´s show as a extinct subspecies of E. quagga, and could be synonym of the same. Is this valid? Or just a region variant or a error? LATIN NAME Equus quagga isabellinus AUTHOR Hamilton Smith, 1841 SYNONYMS Hippotigris isabellinus - NOTES Apparently based unknowingly on the same specimen as antiquorum (Grubb 1999) DISTRIBUTION STATUS Extinct |
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Post by RSN on May 20, 2006 22:19:28 GMT
Maybe is the last quagga of another specialist last pic? Or an natural race, something like dogs?
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Post by Melanie on May 20, 2006 22:35:19 GMT
Hippotigris isabellinus is as far as i know a synonym of Hippotigris antiquorum.
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Post by another specialist on May 21, 2006 6:57:03 GMT
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Post by RSN on May 21, 2006 18:34:49 GMT
I know what I´ve posted. I just wanna more info about this taxon.
Also, the picture atributed to isabellinus don't look like E. q. antiquorum for me.
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