Quagga

An article in the Edmonton Journal, December 13, 2006, concerns an alleged quagga, a South Africa species with genetic links to zebras said to be extinct for over 100 years.

This specific equine has been missing for over two weeks from a farm located at Carrot Creek, a little way west of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The animal seems rather unique:

The eight-year-old stallion, named Zebastian, is a brown zebra with black stripes, and its owner fears the animal’s unique looks will tempt area hunters who don’t know how special it is.

Plus…

[Patricia] O’Neil bought Zebastian seven years ago at an auction near Innisfail, thinking he was a hybrid horse.

When Zebastian fathered a foal, O’Neil said she sent his DNA for testing at the University of Phoenix. She said Zebastian has the DNA markers of a quagga zebra, a species that has been extinct for more than 100 years.

“I am sure the zoo industry and zoologists will be very interested in that finding,” Valley Zoo operations supervisor Dean Treichel said.

Treichel has been working with the zoo for 28 years and says the only Alberta zebras he is aware of live in the province’s two zoos. He is skeptical.

Update: Photographs of Zebastian have been forwarded to us. He does not exhibit the classic Quagga striping, but that of a zebra-horse hybrid.

Click on image for full-size version

Click on image for full-size version

The search is still on for Zebastian.

Thanks to Red Grossinger in Whitehorse, Yukon, for passing this along.

The public domain images shown are an old photograph and a print of the known (extinct) quagga from Africa, below the new ones sent in of Zebastian.