Among those scientists who considered the Quagga as having
been the southern-most subspecies of the Plains Zebra,
were Otto Antonius, zoo director in Vienna and the two
brothers, Heinz and Lutz Heck, both zoo directors, the
former at Munich and the latter at Berlin, Germany.
The breeding experiments of the Heck brothers, largely
with domestic horses and cattle, are well known. The aim
was to breed animals which resemble the wild ancestors
of both the domestic horse and domestic cattle. Lutz Heck,
in his 1955 book entitled "Grosswild im Etoshaland",
suggested that careful breeding with Plains Zebra, that
have been selected for their brownish basic colour, and/or
reduced striping, could produce an animal identical to
the extinct Quagga!
In 1971, Reinhold Rau visited museums in Europe to examine
most of the preserved Quagga specimens, after having dismantled
and re-mounted the Quagga foal at the South African Museum
in Cape Town in 1969/70. During this tour he discussed
the feasibility of attempting to re-breed the Quagga with
Dr. Th. Haltenorth, mammalogist, at Munich, Germany. Dr.
Haltenorth saw merits in such a plan and expressed his
surprise that such a programme had not already been started
in South Africa.
Having critically examined 21 of the 23 preserved Quaggas,
and being familiar with the high degree of variation in
the Plains Zebra populations inhabiting the Etosha National
Park in Namibia, the Kruger National Park, as well as
parks in Zululand and Swaziland, Rau decided to work towards
the implementation of a Quagga re-breeding programme.
Contact was made in 1975 with zoologists and Park authorities,
in the hope of stimulating interest in the project. Reactions
to his proposals were on the whole negative, which was
not surprising, considering that most English language
scientific literature considered the Quagga as a separate
species, a view which, if correct, would render any attempt
to re-breed the Quagga a futile exercise. However, Rau
did not abandon his re-breeding proposal, as he considered
the Quagga to be a subspecies of the Plains Zebra. The
plan received new impetus in the 1980’s by molecular
studies that compared sequences of genetic code of Mitochondrial
DNA extracted from tissue samples from a Quagga’s
skin. Comparison of these sequences with those of the
Plains Zebra, demonstrated their close affinity, at least
with reference to the sequenced genes, indicating that
the Quagga was a subspecies of the Plains Zebra. Then
came another fortunate event. The retired veterinarian,
Dr. J. F. Warning of Somerset West, contacted Rau during
the latter part of 1985. He was an expert in animal husbandry
and had been associated in horse and cattle breeding for
more than 50 years in Germany and Namibia.
He was a friend of Prof. Lutz Heck and had spent much
time with him during the latter’s stay in Namibia
(which resulted in Heck’s book mentioned above).
Gradually a more positive attitude was taken towards the
proposed Quagga re-breeding programme, as the DNA examination
results appeared in publications from 1984 onward. Influential
persons became involved and during March 1986 the project
committee was formed. During March 1987 nine zebras, out
of approximately 2 500, were selected and captured at
the Etosha National Park. Their capture and arrival at
the specially constructed breeding camp complex at the
Nature Conservation farm "Vrolijkheid", near
Robertson, in the Cape, on 24th April 1987, marked the
commencement of the Quagga re-breeding project.
