导读：作为非洲最有名的灭绝动物之一，斑驴实际上是草原斑马的亚种，曾大规模地生活在南非基普省和桔色自由州的南部地区，它与其它斑马的区别就在于明显地只在身体前半部分有条纹，而到身体中间部分时条纹就逐渐变淡消失，条纹间黑色的区域逐渐变大，直至后腿和臀部全都是一片棕色。
对应考题：2010.01.15北美托福阅读题
Quagga 斑驴
Quaggas died out in the late 1800s
The quagga is a subspecies of zebra that was once found in great numbers throughout the dry areas of South Africa. It was something of an oddity, with markings like an ordinary zebra on the front part of its body and a rear that was entirely brown. The quagga was hunted into extinction in the 1870s, before it was even identified as separate from ordinary zebras. Quaggas were ruthlessly killed for their meat and hides and were also considered competition for livestock, who shared feeding areas.
Quaggas were the first extinct animals to have their DNA analyzed; after this was done, the very close relationship between quaggas and zebras was discovered. There is now hope that quaggas could be “resurrected,” in a sense, by breeding horses and zebras together. Of course, a horse-zebra hybrid wouldn’t be a true quagga, but the markings could be made to look similar.
中文背景：
作为非洲最有名的灭绝动物之一，斑驴实际上是草原斑马的亚种，曾大规模地生活在南非基普省和桔色自由州的南部地区，它与其它斑马的区别就在于明显地只在身体前半部分有条纹，而到身体中间部分时条纹就逐渐变淡消失，条纹间黑色的区域逐渐变大，直至后腿和臀部全都是一片棕色。它的名字quagga来源于Khoikhoi语言对斑马的称呼，是个象声词，得自斑驴的叫声。
最初在1788年时，斑驴被视作一个独立物种--马属斑驴；而在其后约五十年间，自然学者和探险家们发现了许多种其它斑马，由于各种斑马间毛皮的花纹各不相同(实际上任何两只斑马身上的条纹都不会完全一样)，分类学家发现这样一来新兴物种太多了，并不利于人类区分哪些是真正的物种，哪些是亚种，哪些只是自然变异。就在人类还未理清分类的混乱之时，在人类的猎食、收集皮革、家养驯化之下，斑驴已走向了灭绝。最后一只野生斑驴大约在十七世纪七十年代末期被射杀，世界上最后一只捕获的斑驴则与1883年8月死于阿姆斯特丹的阿蒂斯.马吉斯特拉(Artis Magistra)动物园。
由于对斑马的分类极度混乱，尤其是对于一般大众来说，斑驴灭绝时人们还将它视作一个独立物种。斑驴是首类进行了DNA测试的灭绝动物，在史密森学会近斯关于遗传的调查中，发现斑驴实际上根本不是一个单独物种，而是草原斑马的众多变种之一。
