A quagga is a variety of zebra that has been extinct since the 1880s. Quaggas were found on the plains in South Africa where they fed on the open grasslands. The early settlers there saw the quagga as a competitor for the food they needed for their grazing animals and set about eliminating them as quickly as possible.
Quaggas were hunted mercilessly and their hides used for various products such as bags. The attitudes in the middle of 1800s towards conservation were very different to those of today. Nobody gave any thought to conserving the animals and the people thought nothing of ridding the new land of its indigenous species.
By the 1860s only a few quaggas were left alive but there were still some in zoos. However, at the time, zoos were seen only as places of entertainment and did little to conserve species. The last quagga died at an Amsterdam zoo on 12 August 1883.
Quaggas were hunted mercilessly and their hides used for various products such as bags. The attitudes in the middle of 1800s towards conservation were very different to those of today. Nobody gave any thought to conserving the animals and the people thought nothing of ridding the new land of its indigenous species.
By the 1860s only a few quaggas were left alive but there were still some in zoos. However, at the time, zoos were seen only as places of entertainment and did little to conserve species. The last quagga died at an Amsterdam zoo on 12 August 1883.