2-982-509 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Quagga in the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, 1858. 'A male quagga has long been a desideratum in the society's menagerie [sic], and that want has now been supplied by the liberality of Sir George Grey, the Governor of the Cape Colony...Although the quagga is the least brilliantly-marked of the three species of zebrine animals which are found in South Africa, it is probably the strongest, and certainly the most tractable...The animal was formerly extremely common within the colony; but, vanishing before the strides of civilisation, is now to be found in very limited numbers, and on the borders only. Beyond, and on those sultry plains which are completely taken possession of by wild beasts, and may with strict propriety be termed the domains of savage nature, it occurs in interminable herds...Moving slowly across the profile of the ocean-like horison, uttering a shrill barking neigh, of which its name forms a correct imitation, long files of quaggas continually remind the early traveller of a rival caravan on its march...Bands of many hundreds are frequently seen during their migration'. (The quagga was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century). From "Illustrated London News", 1858.