This species is occasionally domesticated and driven in South Africa, as it is not injured by the tsetse fly.
Professor Ewart has lately carried out a very interesting series of experiments on the hybridising of zebras and horses. The results were very satisfactory. The zebra cross proved to be very hardy creatures, capable of wintering in the open on the hills of Scotland. The scientific data obtained were of singular value, as showing the effect of crossbreeding on subsequent generations of foals of the same mother. It has long been believed that the influence of the first sire was seen in foals of which other animals were subsequently the fathers. Thus, if a white mare threw a foal to a black stallion, it was considered that her subsequent progeny would occasionally be black, and instances were freely quoted to support this theory. The scientific name of "telegony" was given to this supposed influence of previous sires on future offspring. Professor Ewart's experiments, in which pony mares were first mated with a zebra and afterwards with horses, show that this theory of telegony is erroneous. The foals sired afterwards by ponies and horses showed no trace whatever of zebra stripes, but were normal pony foals, and not altered either in shape or disposition.
The Quagga, which became extinct about thirty years ago, never had a very extended range, but in the early part of the last century it existed in great numbers on all the upland plains of the Cape Colony to the west of the Kei River, and in the open treeless country lying between the Orange and Vaal Rivers. North of the Vaal it appears to have been unknown.
Photo by Percy Ashenden.
ZEBRAS ON TABLE MOUNTAIN.
Another South African photograph. Notice Cape Town in the far distance.
Photo by York & Son] [Notting Hill.
QUAGGA.