Editing Quagga (section)

==Description==

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|image1 = Quagga in enclosure.jpg
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|image2 = Live London quagga.jpg
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|image3 = Quagga London Zoo.jpg
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|image4 = Fourth known quagga photo.jpg
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|footer = Four of the five known photos of the London mare, 1863–1870 (the best-known is at the start of this article)
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The quagga is believed to have been {{convert|257|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|125|–|135|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} tall at the shoulders.<ref name="Walker"/> Based on measurements of skins, mares were significantly longer and slightly taller than stallions, whereas the stallions of extant zebras are the largest.<ref name="Dimorphism">{{Cite journal |last1=Heywood |first1=P. |title=Sexual dimorphism of body size in taxidermy specimens of ''Equus quagga quagga'' Boddaert (Equidae) |journal=Journal of Natural History |date=2019 |volume=53 |issue=45–46 |pages=2757–2761 |doi=10.1080/00222933.2020.1736678|bibcode=2019JNatH..53.2757H |s2cid=216402084 }}</ref> Its coat pattern was unique among [[equid]]s: zebra-like in the front but more like a horse in the rear.<ref name="smithsonian"/> It had brown and white stripes on the head and neck, brown upper parts and a white belly, tail and legs. The stripes were boldest on the head and neck and became gradually fainter further down the body, blending with the reddish brown of the back and flanks, until disappearing along the back. It appears to have had a high degree of [[Polymorphism (biology)|polymorphism]], with some having almost no stripes and others having patterns similar to the extinct southern population of Burchell's zebra, where the stripes covered most of the body except for the hind parts, legs and belly.<ref name="Walker" /> It also had a broad dark dorsal stripe on its back. It had a standing [[mane (horse)|mane]] with brown and white stripes.<ref name="1911 quagga">{{EB1911|wstitle=Quagga}}</ref>

The only quagga to have been photographed alive was a [[mare]] at the [[Zoological Society of London]]'s [[London Zoo|Zoo]]. Five photographs of this specimen are known, taken between 1863 and 1870.<ref>{{Cite journal  | last =  Huber | first =  W. | title =  Dokumentation der fünf bekannten Lebendaufnahmen vom Quagga, ''Equus quagga quagga'' Gmelin, 1788 (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae) | journal = Spixiana  | volume = 17  | pages = 193–199  | language =  de | year = 1994 }}</ref> On the basis of photographs and written descriptions, many observers suggest that the stripes on the quagga were light on a dark background, unlike other zebras. The German naturalist [[Reinhold Rau]], pioneer of the [[Quagga Project]], claimed that this is an [[optical illusion]]: that the base colour is a creamy white and that the stripes are thick and dark.<ref name="Walker"/>

Living in the very southern end of the plains zebra's range, the quagga had a thick [[Coat (animal)|winter coat]] that [[moulted]] each year. Its skull was described as having a straight profile and a [[wikt:concavity|concave]] [[diastema]], and as being relatively broad with a narrow [[occiput]].<ref name="Hippotigris"/><ref name="Kingdon">{{Cite book|author=Kingdon, J.|year=1988|title=East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part B: Large Mammals|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=139|isbn=978-0-226-43722-4}}</ref> Like other plains zebras, the quagga did not have a [[dewlap]] on its neck as the mountain zebra does.<ref name="Azzaroli"/> The 2004 morphological study found that the skeletal features of the southern Burchell's zebra population and the quagga overlapped, and that they were impossible to distinguish. Some specimens also appeared to be intermediate between the two in striping, and the extant Burchell's zebra population still exhibits limited striping. It can therefore be concluded that the two subspecies graded morphologically into each other. Today, some stuffed specimens of quaggas and southern Burchell's zebra are so similar that they are impossible to definitely identify as either, since no location data was recorded.<ref name="Hippotigris"/>