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Recreate the Research
What is a Quagga?
Yes, the Quagga is a mammal, and a pretty curious one too.
A curious mammal ...
There are several aspects about the Quagga which make it interesting to us:
... but what is it?
Unfortunately, the quagga was extinct before scientists were really sure about the quagga's closest relatives and where it should fit in the classification of mammals.In the mid-20th century, we still didn't have an answer to the question, "What is a quagga?" Was it a zebra without stripes on its rear? Was it a horse-zebra hybrid? Was it an ancient striped form of horse?
Ancient DNA and Allan Wilson
In 1984, Allan Wilson, with his colleague Russell Higuchi, decided to try to find the answers to these questions. They applied DNA sequencing methods to a preserved museum specimen, to obtain what is now called ancient DNA. Then they inferred the evolutionary relationship of the quagga to other similar mammals using phylogenetic analysis.
What do you think the quagga was? You can try doing the analysis yourself to find the answer (Recreate the Research).