Pale rumped Burchells Zebra with new foal

Observed by jacquesvdmerwe
Botanical Society of South AfricaCape West Coast Biosphere ReserveCustodians of Rare and Endangered WildflowersDarling Wildflower Society
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(Added to iSpot on 16th September 2011)
Zebra

Formerly cultivated lands

Location: Burgherspost Wine Estate, Darling
Identification

Other observations of Quagga (Equus quagga subsp. antiquorum)

Comments

s African Zebra taxonomy

16 September 2011 - 7:46am — tony rebelo
iSpot TeamBotanical Society of South Africa A-teamCape Bird ClubEntomological Society of Southern AfricaFriends of Tokai ParkProtea Atlas ProjectSenior Scout AdventureSouth African National Biodiversity InstituteSouth African National Parks Honorary RangersToyota Enviro Outreach
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Zebra taxonomy has undergone a contentious evolution, and I am not sure consensus has been reached.

* Firstly, our southern African zebras were first described as Quagga E. quagga by Boddaert in 1785, and Burchells/Plains Zebra E. burchellii by Gray in 1824.

* Secondly, there was a strong movement to sink the Quagga E. quagga with the Plains Zebra E. burchellii so that the Quagga could be "restored." (If its a subspecies, then the genes are shared and by "selecting" the Quagga-lookalikes the Quagga could be "restored", if it is a separate species this is not possible; some argue it is not possible either way, but the concept has strong political and conservation appeal). The current consensus is that the Plains Zebra and Quagga are the same species, so we need to use the name E. quagga with the two as subspecies.

* Lastly, E. burchellii is being used for animals from East Africa.
(I must confess to being confused: I did not know Burchell collected in East Africa, but possibly the name was given to an east African zebras. But the account in Skinner and Chimimba (2005) is garbled, muddling "quagga" and "burchellii") I suspect Skinner and Chimimba (2005) are wrong on this account as I cannot find this in use anywhere: the east African Plains Zebra are now all considered subspecies of E. quagga . So this is probably wrong:: so:

*Lastly! Why is the Plains Zebra not called E. q. burchellii but E. q. antiquorum? It all seems to hinge on whether one considers the type of burchellii to be a Quagga or a Plains Zebra. If it is a Quagga, then E. burchellii is a Quagga and we must use E. q. antiquorum as the next youngest name for the Plains Zebra. But if the type is the Plains Zebra then we should use E. q. burchellii.
Part of the problem is that the type of E. burchellii is smack bang in the transition zone between the Quagga and Plains Zebra: so geography does not help! We also have a conundrum: if you want to argue that the Quagga and Plains Zebra are the same species, then we cannot tell them apart and have to use E. q. antiquorum. If we want to maintain that they are distinct, then they must be separate species and we need to use E. quagga and E. burchellii as separate species - but then we cannot restore the Quagga.
The current consensus is that we use E. q. antiquorum for the Plains Zebra.