The Quagga is an extinct subspecies, Equus quagga quagga, of the plains zebra or common zebra (E. quagga), characterized by the vivid, dark stripes located only on the head, neck, and shoulders, with the stripes fading and more spread apart on the mid-section and the posterior area a plain brown. The quagga once was considered a separate species, E. quagga and the plains zebra was classified as E. burchelli. The quagga was the first extinct animal to have its DNA studied and it was such genetic analysis that indicated the quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra.

The Quagga was basically a brown zebra with white legs and tail. It had no distinct markings on its hind quarters and only vague mottled markings on its back. In conformation it was more horse-like than any of the other zebras which, except for the Burchells, are generally large-headed and donkey-like. Its mane was distinctive, being described by an early observer as "curious, appearing as if trimmed by art". In the wild, quaggas grazed in mixed herds with wildebeest or hartebeest and ostriches.

The colonizing Boers found it the most obvious source of food for their native servants and a source of hides for domestic use and export. Quaggas hides were sturdy and lightweight and many were still in everyday use long after the animal itself was extinct. Quagga were plentiful in the 1840s, but the eradication of the Quagga only took around 30 years with the last one dying in the Amsterdam zoo in 1883.

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