quagga

Michael Haggard
Zoology 4th Hour
September 11th, 2011
Journal Review 2



Yale University (2005, September 28). How A Zebra Lost Its Stripes: Rapid Evolution Of The Quagga. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050928084511.htm

	The journal on the evolution of the quagga from the zebra was done by a group of people. The part in which I am referencing was written by Gissella Caccone. She is a senior research scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. Other researchers on the team were Scott Glaberman, Jennifer A. Leonard,
Robert C. Fleischer, Michael Hofreiter, and Nadin Rohland.
	Quagga have been described as a species, and subspecies of zebra. The researchers asked how exactly did the quagga diverge from their relatives. The team started off with common known information. The quagga, or Equus quagga, was known to be a relative of horses and zebras, bearing very similar looks and having zebra-like markings on the front half of their body. The quagga has been extinct for around 100 years, so the team used a pelt from a quagga museum specimen for their tests. The team of researchers compared the genetics of the quagga to existing zebras and other relative species, as well as other characteristics such as coat color and habitats. Mitochondrial DNA markers from multiple specimens showed that the quagga most likely diverged from the specific Plains zebra around anywhere from 120,000 to 300,000 years ago during the great Ice Age. The team concluded that the quagga descended from an isolated population of Plains zebras very rapidly, and that this information could be helpful in the future, as it shows the Ice Age was also important in Africa.
	This journal would be on a basic high school reading level, and provides information for anyone interested in the quagga. This also would be useful for people interested in the effects of the Ice Age on African animals. I learned that the Ice Age could have isolated populations of zebras, causing them to diverge into the quagga.