Quagga and Willis Tower

Quagga  : Extinct in 1883

Willis Tower  : 442.1m, Chicago, United States     

 

 

 

Quagga and Willis Tower_76x57cm_watercolor on paper_2014

 

 

The quagga, a subspecies of plains zebra, inhabited arid and temperate grasslands in South Africa. It had stripes only in the front. In the 19th century, sport hunting and animal skin trade thrived in South Africa. The quagga’s skin was traded actively for its unique coat pattern. Dutch settlers grazed sheep and cows on arid pastures and considered the quagga a serious threat to their livestock. The plains once inhabited by the quagga became controlled by humans in a very short time, and the quagga population plummeted. The last quagga in the wild, in the Orange Free State, was killed off in the late 1870s. The last individual, kept in the ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo, died on August 12, 1883.