Encyclopaedia of Cryptozoology
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Quagga
(Equus quagga quagga)
Quagga colourised

A colourised version of the famous London Zoo quagga photograph from 1870, colourised by neitshade.

Category Lazarus taxon
Proposed scientific names
Other names
Country reported Angola, Namibia
First reported 1930
Prominent investigators • Quentin Keynes

The quagga (Equus quagga quagga) was a type of plains zebra native to South Africa until at least 1878, when it is said to have become extinct in the wild, followed by its extinction in captivity in 1883. However, occasional sightings of living quaggas were reported from the desert regions of Namibia and Angola, west of South Africa, during the 20th Century.[1][2][3] In cryptozoology, quaggas are also associated with the blue horse, which was discovered in a herd of quaggas in 1860.[1]

Attestations and sightings[]

Swiss naturalist Albert Monard (1886 – 1952) believed that quaggas could still be found in southern Angola,[4] as a Dutch hunter claimed to have killed a zebra which was striped only on the head and neck in 1910, in a remote region near the Cunene River.[5] The possibility of quagga survival in Angola was later criticised by Portuguese businessman and naturalist Newton da Silva.[6][7]

Anglo-American explorer Quentin George Keynes (1921 – 2003) gathered several early 20th Century quagga sightings, inspiring him to lead an expedition to southern Africa in the early 1950s. An unnamed traveller had told him that quaggas could be found in the remote Kaokoveld Desert, along the coasts of Namibia and Angola, from which hunters had been barred. According to a Cape Town newspaper report dating from 1930, a mine manager also claimed to have seen a herd of fourteen quaggas somewhere in the Namib Desert.[8]

After failing to find a quagga during his own expedition, Keynes learned that a South African expedition to the Kaokoveld had interviewed a Khoikhoi who accurately described a quagga-like animal which he claimed to have seen recently. Keynes wrote in 1952 that he intended to return to Africa to search again in Spring 1953,[8][9] but turned his attention to the giant sable antelope (Hippotragus niger variani) of Angola.[6]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
  2. Heuvelmans, Bernard "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals With Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned", Cryptozoology, No. 5 (1986)
  3. Coleman, Loren & Clark, Jerome (1999) Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0684856025
  4. Heuvelmans, Bernard (1978) Les Derniers Dragons d'Afrique, Plon, ISBN 978-2259003872
  5. Monard, Albert "Sur l'Existence en Angola d'un Grand Reptile Encore Inconnu," Bulletin de la Societe Neuchdteloise de Sciences Naturelles, Vol. 57 (1932) — Online
  6. 6.0 6.1 Walker, John Frederick (2004) A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola
  7. Silva, Newton da "Sobre a Improbabilidade da Sobbrevivência da Quagga no Sul de Angola," Anais dos Serviçoes de Veterinária e Indústria Animal (1942)
  8. 8.0 8.1 Mangiacopra, Gary & Smith, Dwight "Rescued from the Past #2—African Cryptid vs. American Mysterious Fireballs," North American BioFortean Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (December 2003)
  9. Keynes, Quentin "You Might Think I'm Crazy," Hartford Courant (10 February 1952)
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