Every hour, up to three species go extinct, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. But with the Quagga Project, a South African initiative, scientists are pushing back time to revive the quagga, a zebra subspecies that went extinct in 1883.

According to its website, the project was founded in 1987 by scientist Reinhold Rau and uses selective breeding to get closer and closer to a quagga. Scientists select zebras exhibiting the same patterning as the quagga to pass on their genes. Eventually, the project hopes to see a specimen that looks the same as a quagga, with a brown coat and reduced striping on its hind legs. For scientists, the goal is to atone for human-caused extinction. 

Even though humans have driven many animals to extinction, not just the quagga, senior Nathan Jiang said he wonders about the scientists’ choice.

“Why don’t they bring back a cooler animal like the dodo birds or the dinosaurs?” Jiang said. “Why the quagga?”

From a more critical perspective, science teacher Nicole Loomis said it might be impossible to revive the quagga with the methods the Quagga Project is using.

“I’m not sure that you would get a quagga again from this selective breeding,” Loomis said. “Because why were they striped like that in the first place? What evolutionary benefit did that have, and does that evolutionary force still exist?”

The evolutionary force might be gone, but there is a deeper problem. Senior Allie Jackson said that though the Quagga Project might be able to make animals that look like quaggas, the project will not truly revive the quagga.

“There are genetic aspects to a quagga that are not visible,” Jackson said. “Even if you breed it a lot, it will never be the same as the original quagga.”

Loomis also has ecological concerns about bringing back quaggas. She said she wonders about a possible habitat for the quaggas and the effect quaggas could have on the ecosystem.

“I don’t know what kinds of animals there are to keep their population in check at this point,” Loomis said. “They may not have any diseases or natural predators, and so it’s possible that they could explode in population, and then you’d have too many quaggas, and they’d be eating up all the grass and destroying the grassland.”

But Loomis also said there are potential benefits to the Quagga Project.

“Since they’re native, (they will) have a better outcome than if they tried to introduce something that wasn’t native,” Loomis said.

But ultimately, Loomis said it’s impossible to predict the future.

“I hope it goes in the middle of the road and it’s fine, but I think there’s the solid possibility that it could go wrong in either direction,” Loomis said.

Outside of genetic or ecological concerns, Jiang said he also worries about animal cruelty in the Project despite its efforts to make up for past mistakes.

“There’s definitely a lot of ethical concerns because you don’t really know what they may be experiencing,” Jiang said.

With all of these problems — the grey moral ground, the possible adverse impacts on the environment, and the limitations of the project — Jackson said conservationist efforts should be focused on other areas.

“Humans should have less of a harmful impact on animals,” Jackson said. “We should try to prevent future extinctions.”

The Quagga Project did not respond to requests for comment.