tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post8558453796656768808..comments2024-03-28T07:28:58.459-07:00Comments on The Breeding-back Blog: Please don't call it quaggaDaniel Foidlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02924677790606716751noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-55539463001750628852015-07-21T09:09:40.675-07:002015-07-21T09:09:40.675-07:00Hi,
first of all, thanks for your offer of sendin...Hi, <br />first of all, thanks for your offer of sending me more info, here is my email adress: daniel.foidl( )itmed.at. Where the space is there should be an "@" of course. <br /><br />But I feel that you raised no argument that I haven't covered in my article yet, except perhaps that there was a cline of striping within the Quagga itself. Is there direct evidence for that? I know that there was variation within the degree of striping within the quagga population, but I haven't read yet that this variation was a geographic cline within the Quagga. Not that I would doubt that. Daniel Foidlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924677790606716751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-36659016879063137952015-07-21T07:28:46.612-07:002015-07-21T07:28:46.612-07:00I'm quite fond of your overall work, although ...I'm quite fond of your overall work, although from a South African perspective I would however like to make a few comments concerning the "extinct" Quagga and some points of controversy.<br /><br />Firstly, with regards to the true identity of the so-called 'extinct' Quagga (in a great sense) we need to look no further than the narratives of the early European colonists and especially the many literate naturalists (i.e. John Barrow, William Burchell, Francois le Vaillant, Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein and many others) that had great exploratory journeys through the South African "veld" where the Quagga and Burchell's Zebra were most common. So now I might add that the Quagga is NOT an extinct subspecies of Plains Zebra, rather the Quagga was the southernmost population of Plains Zebra representing a natural cline. In other words the southernmost "Quagga" were least striped (i.e. most typical "Quagga"), while the populations further north towards the Orange River became ever more striped until the "fully-striped" Burchell's Zebra persisted. <br /><br />But here lies the confusion! In the earliest days of European colonization and exploration in the Cape of Good Hope region (now Cape Town), the new colonists were presented with two very much different Equus species - namely the "Quagga" (Equus quagga) and the smaller Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra). But as the colony expanded ever further into the hinterland of Southern Africa, a seemingly "new" species came onto the scene - and so William Burchell dubbed the "newly discovered" animal was named the "Burchell's Zebra". Note all three these so-called "species" were called "Quagga" or rather "Kwagga" often without differentiation in the mother tongue of the locals - Afrikaans. <br /><br />So in conclusion the Quagga was by no means a distinct species from the Plains Zebra and even to call it a subspecies would in fact be pushing it. The southernmost animals (south of the prominent Cape mountains) were the least striped, while further north towards the Orange River the animals fashioned ever more stripes. So the thoughts that the Quagga was indeed a distinct species originated from the Afrikaans language which described the different colour variations by distinct names (i.e. "kwagga," "bontkwagga," "Kaapse kwagga," "Karoo kwagga " "vlaktekwagga;" Note all indeed the same species). <br /><br />The quagga did not diverge from the plains zebra 200 000 years ago, they are conclusively plains zebra, and massive zebra herds that once ranged across the Karoo contained both "unstriped" animals (rendered as essentially quagga) and "more-striped" animals rendered as (bontkwagga; later Burchell's zebra [note no distinction was ever noted apart from "colour morphs"]). So the comparison of the Quagga project to the work of the Heck brothers are most definitely not the same. The Heck brothers tried to recreate an extinct species from domesticated descendants, while the quagga project only captured and consolidated zebras that were essentially quagga into a single population.<br /><br />I am the author of "Rewilding The Lost Wilderness" - a book about the larger mammals that inhabited the southernmost parts of Africa. I can send you more info and parts of my book if you would like to read more about the Quagga. Marcel_Hendriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-37519868702228369102015-03-31T08:20:54.276-07:002015-03-31T08:20:54.276-07:00I see it think in a similar manner. But my point i...I see it think in a similar manner. But my point is, at most, that their attitude is not possible this way (recreating the Quagga). Daniel Foidlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924677790606716751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-34631506608263496382015-03-30T05:51:41.704-07:002015-03-30T05:51:41.704-07:00I'm glad I'm not the only one who is extre...I'm glad I'm not the only one who is extremely disappointed with the attitude of the QP. In my opinion they still have a mountain to climb, but when you listen to them talk they truly think that their mission has already been accomplished successfully. It is sad to see such delusion because it means that the end result will fall short of what it otherwise could be. I'd be much happier, and have more respect for them, if i heard them give an honest self assessment and say that they have plans for addressing the remaining phenotypic differences you correctly identified than to hear them ignore those things and proclaim success.DTWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00192549792062281408noreply@blogger.com