Quagga (Prehistoric & Extinct by Mojö Fun)

Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972

The quagga (†Equus quagga quagga) was a South African subspecies of zebra, immediately recognizable by its unique stripe pattern. During the 19th century, it was hunted relentlessly for its skin and meat, and to eliminate it as competition for domestic animals. Last minute attempts to preserve the species failed and the last known individual died in captivity in 1883. An effort is currently underway to selectively breed Burchell’s zebras with reduced stripes, but they will never be the same as the original animal.

Mojo Fun’s 2013 quagga figure measures 10 cm long and stands slightly under 9 cm tall (1:21 – 1:22.5 in scale). Its colour scheme is in keeping with what we know of the animal’s appearance: brown for the upper portion of the most, white for the underbelly, legs, and tail, and very pale beige for the stripes and main. Black is used for the muzzle, eyes, and hooves.

This individual, which is clearly a male, is standing tall and proud with its right hind hoof pawing at the ground. The tail is moulded to the left hind leg, which I find somewhat unfortunate, but far from disastrous. As far as accuracy goes, this is a perfectly good rendition. Aside from its colours, the quagga was virtually identical to that of the still-extant Burchell’s zebra, to the point where telling their skeletons apart is said to be impossible.

The sculpting on this figure is decent enough. Its musculature is well-defined, its hide has a pitted texture to simulate fur, and the hairs on its mane and tail are done well enough. Overall, however, it’s safe to say that this equid isn’t sculpted nearly as beautifully as the ones from CollectA or Schleich.

Like most recently extinct animals, the quagga is seldom depicted in toy form, so I’m rather grateful to Mojo Fun for producing this one. I wish I could say that we as a race have learned something from its extinction, but that is clearly just wishful thinking. 🙁