Equus quagga

The plains zebra is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspecies have been recognised, including the quagga which was thought to be a separate species. More recent research supports variations in zebra populations being clines rather than subspecies.

Equus quagga

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
plains zebraPBDB
Sits inside
EquusPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Equus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Equus
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 94 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 94 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 64 of 94 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 29 of 94 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 44 occurrences774 ka – 11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

94 occurrences of Equus quagga on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

94 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Mbuga Clays — 4.03°S, 33.78°EMbuga Clays — 3.98°S, 33.93°EMbuga Clays — 3.90°S, 33.73°EMbuga Clays — 3.92°S, 33.87°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.97°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EMbuga/Yellow Clays — 3.92°S, 33.82°EMbuga/Yellow Clays — 3.87°S, 33.72°EMbuga/Yellow Clays — 3.92°S, 33.87°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°E

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The named rock units Equus quagga has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 73 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Equus quagga and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Equus quagga and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

420 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 84 sites for Equus quagga, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

41 references

Each of the 94 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 29 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Equus quagga

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Equus quagga burchelli · zmb:70335

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEquus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Boddaert 1785