Welcome to
Top Comments: Quagga Edition! I'm a history and animals buff, and when I noticed the following anniversary on
Wikipedia, I decided to look into it:
One hundred and twenty-three years ago today, the world's last quagga died at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. This is the only known photograph of a quagga (taken by Frederick York in 1870), which is a relative of the zebra:
more below the fold
King Louis XVI kept one in his managerie at Versailles. In 1793, Nicolas Marechal (1753-1802) painted this watercolor illustration of the King's quagga:
The quagga was originally classified as an individual species,
Equus quagga, in 1788, when herds of thousands roamed the South African plains. Its name (pronounced 'kwa-g&, 'kwä-) comes from the Hottentot and is thought to have derived from the animal's call. Because zebras have so many variations (no two zebras are alike!), however, some scientists later thought the quagga should have been categorized as a subspecies of the
plains zebra - meaning visually distinct but genetically identical. The divergence of appearance probably occurred between 120,000 and 290,000 years ago. Long before this scientific debate was resolved, however, the quagga had been hunted to extinction. The last wild quagga was probably shot in the late 1870s. That last one at all died in a Dutch zoo in 1883.
In the twentieth century, after DNA studies of quagga hides preserved in natural history museums confirmed the very close relationship between the quagga and surviving zebras, the Quagga Project was born. Started in South Africa by the late Reinhold Rau, the goal of the Project is to recreate the quagga by selectively breeding zebras with quagga traits -- in order to isolate the quagga from the zebra gene pool - and then to reintroduce quaggas into the wild.
Here is a photo of some of the quasi-quaggas that already have been produced by the Project:
If they are successful, it will mark the first time that an extinct species has been brought back from biological oblivion.
And now brought back from potential blogospheric oblivion, tonight's top comments!
noweasels' picks (no animals were hurt in the making of these selections):
AllanTBG on one way
to make a rogue's gallery of useless politicians "useful" for something.
Grey Hawk on the value of a single life, one of many thoughtful comments to Nightprowlkitty's superb diary, posted Friday and deservedly still going strong on Saturday morning.
brownsox on the new poll numbers, which show that the public believes that Democrats would do a better job handling just about everything.
Kestrel9000 just because.
And while I'm on the subject, from jneufnyc and occams hatchet this set of gems.
From some folks who know whereof they speak - some geology snark from rservern and lotlizard!
And from righteousbabe, an idea for a diary we're not likely to see here any time soon.
In response to a diary about "pro-life Democrats," Elise espouses a contrary position.
And from RenaRF on the auspicious occasion of her 39th birthday, this.
Happy birthday to RenaRF and to my niece, Sarah, who turned 14 today!
From Gloriana:
Reality Bites Back offers a list here, and continuing here, of the reasons why that the best way to support the terrorists is to vote Republican.
From Carolita:
scoff0165 synthesizes diaries from Nightprowlkitty and onepissedoffliberal and draws an important conclusion.
Sarabeth ruminates on the fate of the American worker.
MA liberal explains that the downfall of U.S. business has been at the hands of MBAs.
hmbnancy gives some very good reasons to cut and run.
Jotter has words for Jomentum.
concordepa reminds us of what the new war on liquids means to a frequent flier.
papercut explains how to properly salute an excellent diary.
From iliketodrum:
Buzzer's comment regarding how much the MSM really knows about blogs - and why.
And this one, from an anonymous source: Agathena's poetic one-liner.
This link to the top comments by number of recommends (not including tip jars) shows Buffalo Girl out on top! Whoa-oh, Buffalo!
Thanks to everyone! And remember: you can send recs to the Top Comments team by e-mailing them to topcomments@gmail.com! Please remember to include your screen name if you'd like a rec for your choice!