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QUAGGA PROJECT ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED UNDER SECTION 21)

Co-coordinator’s Report August 2010

ASSETS UPDATE & SECT 21 Co

- 96 animals in 11 locations - Cash in bank as per treasurers report

ANIMAL MOVEMENTS The following movements where made since Feb 2010

- 2 males Elandsberg Holding Camp to Kosierskraal - 1 male Kranskop to Arc en Ciel

The following movements are still planned for before summer

- 2 males Far Horizons to Kosierskraal - 2 males Boland Landbou to Kosierskraal - 3 males Pampoenvallei (possible sales)

The following sales where made since Feb 2010

- 1 male Arc en Ciel to S Mitchell - 1 male 2 females IThemba to H Curry - 1 female iThemba to S Mitchell - 1 male 1 female Wedderwil S Mitchell

TOTAL HERD UPDATE

SUMMARY OF QUAGGA PROJECT TOTAL HERD July 2010

LOCATION MALE FEMALE UNKNOWN

TOTAL ANIMALS

Arc en Ciel 2 2 0 4

Boland School 3 6 1 10

Bontebok Ridge 4 2 0 6

Elandsberg 6 11 5 22

Far Horizons 3 5 0 8

Groote Schuur 4 1 1 6

Kranskop 1 0 0 1

Kosierskraal 3 4 1 8

Pampoenvlei 5 4 4 13

Vlakkenhuiwel 1 4 0 5

Wedderwil 4 5 1 10

Extras 0 3 0 3

36 47 13 96

TOTAL ANIMALS IN PROJECT: 96

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Name No. Born at D.O.B Father Mother Now at S M ? TOTAL

Arc en Ciel

Tom 60 Liemietrivier 2005/10/15 Ettienne Marjean Arc en Ciel M

1

Trida 24 Elandsberg 2002/08/01 Luke Zephyr Arc en Ciel

F

1

Jemyma 84 Arc en Ciel 2007/10/01 Bernard Trida Arc en Ciel

F

1

BT08 98 Arc en Ciel 2008/11/01 Bernard Trida Arc en Ciel M

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 2 2 4

Boland Landbou

Douw 54 Liemietrivier 2005/05/05 Ettienne Tracy Boland Landbou M

1

Marilyn 4 Vrolikheid 1993/01/19 Alex Charlene Boland Landbou F

1

Sandra 56 Boland Landbou 2005/05/15 Ike Strelza Boland Landbou F

1

Strelza 14 Boland Landbou 1999/03/15 Ike Marilyn Boland Landbou F

1

Lucia 92 Boland Landbou 2008/01/20 Ike Marilyn Boland Landbou F

1

Frans 93 Boland Landbou 2008/02/20 Ike Strelza

Boland Landbou M

1

Lizette 111 Boland Landbou 2009/04/04 Douw Strelza Boland Landbou F

1

Willie 112 Boland Landbou 2009/04/12 Douw Marilyn

Boland Landbou M

1

Susan 124 Boland Landbou 2009/08/01 Douw Sandra Boland Landbou F

DM10 126 Boland Landbou 2010/05/01 Douw Marilyn Boland Landbou ? 1

TOTAL ANIMALS 3 6 1 10

Bontebok Ridge

Tim 21 Elandsberg 2003/01/18 George Jeanetta Bontebok Ridge M

1

Tracy 18 Elandsberg 2000/02/14 Luke Marriette Bontebok Ridge F

1

Margaret 33 Boland Landbou 2003/03/22 Ike Strelze Bontebok Ridge F

1

Jack 97 Liemietrivier 2008/09/25 Tim Tracy Bontebok Ridge M

1

Harry 102 Liemietrivier 2008/10/27 Tim Marjean Bontebok Ridge M

1

TT09 121 Liemietrivier 2009/11/06 Tim Tracy Bontebok Ridge M

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 4 2 6

Elandsberg George 12 Elandsberg 1998/01/01 Allan Lulu Elandsberg M

1

Jeanetta 7 Elandsberg 1993/04/26 Alex Sokkies Elandsberg F 1 Cynthia 83 Elandsberg 2007/09/12 George Jeanetta Elandsberg F

1

3

Monica 5 Elandsberg 1993/03/05 Allan Lulu Elandsberg F 1 GJ09 118 Elandsberg 2009/10/01 George Jeanetta Elandsberg

? 1

Leslie 90 Elandsberg 2000/06/01 Shaun Monica Elandsberg F 1 Sandra 85 Elandsberg 2007/10/10 George Lesley Elandsberg F

1

Joy 28 Elandsberg 2002/11/09 Luke Marriette Elandsberg F

1 Elanor 99 Elandsberg 2008/12/01 George Joy Elandsberg F

1

Sebastian 16 Elandsberg 1999/08/03 Luke Lulu Elandsberg M

1 Melanie 3

n.a. n.a. n.a. Elandsberg F 1 Duncan 42 Elandsberg 2004/10/01 Luke Lulu Elandsberg M

1

Whity 25 Elandsberg 2002/08/01 Sean Jeanetta Elandsberg F

1 Anna 73 Elandsberg 2006/10/05 George Leslie Elandsberg F

1

Connor 79 Elandsberg 2007/01/19 Duncan Whity Elandsberg F

1 Josh 64 Elandsberg 2005/12/05 Duncan Whity Elandsberg M

1

Marina 72 Elandsberg 2006/07/22 George Jeanetta Elandsberg M

1 Sonja 101 Elandsberg 2008/12/28 George Whity Elandsberg M

1

DW09 117 Elandsberg 2009/09/15 Duncan Whity Elandsberg

? 1 SM09 119 Elandsberg 2009/11/14 Sebastian Melanie Elandsberg

? 1

DJ10 127 Elandsberg 2010/06/01 Duncan Joy Elandsberg

? 1 GL10 128 Elandsberg 2010/07/01 George Lesley Elandsberg

? 1

TOTAL ANIMALS 6 11 5 22

Far Horizons

Frank 37 Liemietrivier 2004/05/07 Ettienne Tracy Far Horizons M

1

Marlene 38 Boland Landbou 2004/05/31 Ike Marcelle Far Horizons F

1

Ryna 36 Boland Landbou 2004/04/18 Ike Strelza Far Horizons F

1

Jacqui 57 Boland Landbou 2005/06/15 Ike Marcelle Far Horizons F

1

Hannes 49 Elandsberg 2004/12/14 George Lesley Far Horizons M

1 Harley 94 Far Horizons 2008/04/24 Frank Marlene Far Horizons M

1

Frances 114 Far Horizons 2009/06/29 Frank Marlene Far Horizons F

1 Michele 125 Far Horizons 2010/01/10 Frank Ryna Far Horizons F

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 3 5 8

Groote Schuur

Eddie 45 Groote Schuur 2004/11/06 Paul Anine Groote Schuur M

1

Sally 46 Groote Schuur 2004/11/20 Morne Barbara Anne Groote Schuur F

1

Gabi 47 Groote Schuur 2004/11/20 Paul Erina Groote Schuur M

1

PE06 69 Groote Schuur 2006/03/01 Paul Erina Groote Schuur M

1

PA05 65 Groote Schuur 2005/12/11 Paul Andri Groote Schuur M

1

ES10 130 Groote Schuur 2010/02/01 Eddie Sally Groote Schuur ? 1

TOTAL ANIMALS 4 1 1 6

4

Kranzkop

Alex 1 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Kranskop M

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 1 1

Kosierskraal

Erna 27 Groote Schuur 2000/10/02 Paul Try Me Kosierskraal F

1

Dolly (Wies) 35 Groote Schuur 2003/11/24 Paul Erna Kosierskraal F

1

Robin 44 Elandsberg 2004/11/01 Luke Amanda Kosierskraal M

1

Marjean 19 Elandsberg 2000/09/18 Luke Lulu Kosierskraal F

1

Suzi 58 Bontebok Ridge 2005/09/01 Ettienne Tracy Kosierskraal F

1

RD10 129 Kosierskraal 2010/07/07 Robin Dolly Kosierskraal

? 1

SMA

Freddy 96 Vlakkenhuiwel 2008/09/04 Ettienne Lydia Vlakkenheuwel M

1 Taylor 100 Far Horizons 2008/12/07 Frank Ryna Far Horizons M

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 3 4 1 8

Pampoenvlei

Ryan 15 Elandsberg 1999/05/01 Shaun Monica Pampoenvlei M

1

Elizabeth 22 Elandsberg 2001/11/05 Shaun Monica Pampoenvlei F

1

Rebecca 34 Elandsberg 2003/07/20 George Leslie Pampoenvlei F

1

Mientjie 29 Elandsberg 2002/12/20 Luke Lulu Pampoenvlei F

1

Henry 52 Pampoenvlei 2005/01/20 Luke Elizabeth Pampoenvlei M

1

Johnny 70 Pampoenvlei 2006/04/24 Ryan Elizabeth Pampoenvlei M

1

Ewald 71 Pampoenvlei 2006/05/03 Ryan Rebecca Pampoenvlei M

1

Nicola 68 Pampoenvlei 2006/01/03 Ryan Mientjie Pampoenvlei F

1

RE07 82 Pampoenvlei 2007/05/25 Ryan Elizabeth Pampoenvlei M

1

RM08 91 Pampoenvlei 2008/01/15 Ryan Mientie Pampoenvlei

? 1

Peter 113 Pampoenvlei 2009/06/09 Ryan Mientie Pampoenvlei

? 1

RE09 115 Pampoenvlei 2009/07/22 Ryan Elizabeth Pampoenvlei

? 1

RR09 116 Pampoenvlei 2009/08/11 Ryan Rebecca Pampoenvlei

? 1

TOTAL ANIMALS 5 4 4 13

Vlakkenhuiwel Eric 23 Elandsberg 2001/12/03 Luke Mariette Vlakkenheuwel M

1

Lydia 59 Vlakkenhuiwel 2005/10/12 Sebastian Margaret Vlakkenheuwel F

1

Ria Rita 77 Vlakkenhuiwel 2006/11/20 Sebastian Margaret Vlakkenheuwel F

1

Nelmarie 108 Vlakkenhuiwel 2009/01/12 Ettienne Margaret Vlakkenheuwel F

1

Danelle 110 Vlakkenhuiwel 2009/04/03 Ettienne Ria Rita Vlakkenheuwel F

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 1 4 5

Wedderwill

Nico 30 Elandsberg 2003/01/25 Luke Nicola Wedderwil M

1

5

Marriete 8 Elandsberg 1994/05/20 Luke Marriete Wedderwil

F

1

Mark 62 Wedderwil 2005/12/05 Luke Marriete Wedderwil M

1

Amanda 80 Wedderwil 2007/04/02 Luke Marriette Wedderwil

F

1

Llysie 90 Wedderwil 2007/12/28 Nico Griet Wedderwil

F

1

Niel 106 Wedderwil 2008/12/12 Nico Ashley Wedderwil M

1

Reed 107 Wedderwil 2008/12/19 Nico Nina Wedderwil M

1

Bess 105 Wedderwil 2008/10/06 Nico Marriette Wedderwil

F

1

NZ09 123 Wedderwil 2009/04/04 Nico Zephyr Wedderwil

? 1

NM09 120 Wedderwil 2009/11/25 Nico Marriette Wedderwil

F

1

TOTAL ANIMALS 4 5 1 10

Excaped from Wedderwill JC Steyn Donelle Wyne 0844383439

NN07 86 Wedderwil 2007/11/22 Nico Nina Wedderwil

F

1

NP07 87 Wedderwil 2007/11/27 Nico Patricia Wedderwil

F

1

NR08 103 Wedderwil 2008/02/14 Nico Rosa Wedderwil

F

1

3 3

CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS WITH LANDOWNERS The following contracts are still awaited Ithemba Labs (proposed we remove all animals and move on from Ithemba) Far Horizons farm property has been sold. The new owner is Andre Badenhorst and a UK investor, Edwin Doran. New contract between their company Kovacs Investments is to be signed with QPA WEBSITE UPDATE See attached latest Analytical report on website usage. USA (especially Alaska) & UK definitely the most popular visitors, with South Africa, Australia & South America starting to come through strongly.

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GENERAL

1. Prof Eric Harley attended the First International Conference on the Restoration of Endangered and Extinct Animals took place at the Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Jastrzebiec near Warsaw, Poland, 17-19 May 2010.

Prof Eric Harley’s report follows;

Report on Conferences attended, May 2010 – E.H.Harley

On my overseas trip in May 2010 I attended two conferences, one by the International

Society for Biological & Environmental Repositories (www.ISBER.org) in Rotterdam

from 11-14 May and the other, the First International Conference on the Restoration

of Endangered and Extinct Animals, REEA), at the Institute of Genetics and

Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Jastrzebiec near Warsaw,

Poland, from 16-19 May.

The First International Conference on the Restoration of Endangered and Extinct

Animals, This was held in Poland on the week following the above meeting, and the

contrast was extreme! From a large, impersonal, sophisticated meeting with an emphasis

on highly technological detail to a smaller (about 100 delegates) and much more personal

and socially oriented meeting, they reflecting the different nature of the subject matter. I

was one of the invited speakers and, apart from having everything paid for (transport,

hotel, reg fees etc) by the organizers, we were fed and feted in a way I have seldom

experienced! The subject matter might seem a bit outlandish if it were not for the

advances being made recently in ancient DNA analysis, cell culture and embryology,

selective breeding etc, which are starting to bring the subject closer to practical

realization. Unusually, the invited speakers were requested to submit a full paper relating

to their presentation sufficiently long before the meeting to enable a very nicely prepared

book (Restoration of Endangered and Extinct Animals, Ed Ryszard Slomski, Poznan

University of Life Sciences Press, 2010) to be ready for all delegates at the start of the

meeting. All presentations were oral and varied from excellent to execrable. The Poles

are especially interested in the restoration of the Aurochs (Bos primigenius) - the now

extinct animal which gave rise (with perhaps a few genetic inputs from related species) to

all the modern breeds of cattle, and was for long a feature of the fauna of central Europe,

with the last representative dying in Poland in 1627. Rather to my surprise, as I had been

aware for a long time of a movement to bring back the Aurochs, there has been little

practical progress in this regard, and most of the presentations relating to the Aurochs

related to its history, distribution, characteristics etc, rather than to practical

implementation. Slomski set the scene well in an introductory talk, noting that what was

impossible only a few years ago appears to be coming within reach today. Restoration of

Extinct animals does not necessarily imply species extinction - a major focus at the

conference was retrieving extinct (or apparently extinct) breeds of domesticated animals

e.g. cattle, and the restoration or maintenance of genetic diversity in extant breeds and

species - an unquestionably important topic in the modern world. To emphasize another

aspect of the topic relevant to today he summarized the depressingly large numbers of

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species threatened with extinction in the near future if plans for their protection are not

put in place or improved now. One approach is ex situ conservation (in zoos or game

parks away from the original habitat) an example being the Chinese deer milu (Elaphurus

davidianus), now extinct in the wild and represented by only a few captive populations.

He made the useful point also that inbreeding depression is not necessarily a problem,

since population bottlenecks, especially repeated ones, are effective, provided the

population survives, in eliminating deleterious genes (making a nonsense of Soule's

"minimum viable population size", a concept which has mislead many conservators).

The recent advancements in molecular biology, whole genome sequencing and animal

cloning in recent years has created completely new investigative possibilities for extinct

and endangered taxa. Since Ian Wilmut's success with cloning a cow ('Dolly') in 1997 the

field has expanded prodigiously, with somatic cell nuclear transfer being one of the most

dynamically developing fields of reproductive biotechnology. A number of talks

addressed cloning technology: one of the major problems discussed being that where a

different animal species is needed for the recipient of the donor nuclei, experiments

having shown that cloning can work if the recipient is a closely related species but

becomes more difficult the more distantly related the recipient is. This is often caused by

nuclear-mitochondrial incompatibility, and research is current to try and find ways of

circumventing the problem. Other talks addressed ancient DNA and sequencing

techniques for getting good reads out of old bones or tissues, a field started with our own

quagga back in 1984, and now known as molecular archaeology. To see how far the field

has progressed there is now a draft sequence of the wooly mammoth nuclear genome

(Nature 456 (2008) 387-390), and another last month for Neanderthal man (Science 328

(2010) 710-722), the latter disclosing that modern humans other than Africans contain

about 4% on average of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, which implies quite a bit of

inbreeding back then - a bit of a shock for conservative minded Europeans and Asians!

There was discussion as to whether if the whole genome of an extinct species (such as the

mammoth) was known whether it would be possible to restore living individuals of the

species using this information. A few years ago this would not have warranted serious

discussion, so it was intriguing that this topic came under serious debate. An approach

might be to "chip ones way" so to speak, to the goal, by constructing individual segments,

perhaps whole chromosomes of the extinct species' DNA using methods already

validated this year by Craig Venter, replacing a recipient species DNA (in an egg) with

such segments, and extending this approach through ensuing generations. The progeny

would then become progressively more phenotypically like the extinct species;

mitochondrial-nuclear incompatibility could be resolved if the mitochondrial DNA could

be replaced, for which suggested methods seem available.

On the practical side, there were presentations on a number of endangered species

undergoing conservation efforts, including the Tarpan and the Konik Polski (both

subspecies of Equus caballus) horse, the European bison (Bison bonasus), and various

cattle breeds. My own presentation (pp 79-87 in the conference book) was entitled "The

Restoration of the Quagga - 24 Years of Selective Breeding", and was an update on our

publication on this topic last year (S.A.J.Wildlife Res. 39 (2009) 155-163). It was not

only (surprisingly) the only presentation describing a selective breeding program using

extant animals as a means of restoring a phenotype, but also the only one in which the

end product, in this case individuals conforming to the pelage phenotype of the "extinct"

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form had been achieved. Up-to-date information on the quagga project can be found on

www.quaggaproject.org.

The ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano which caused such chaos in air traffic nearly

prevented me from getting from the Netherlands to Poland for the conference (the airport

closed the day after I left for Warsaw), and did succeed in preventing one of the main

speakers, Keith Campell from Nottingham, a specialist in animal cloning, from attending.

This left a vacant slot in the program, and I suggested repeating the talk I had given the

previous week in Rotterdam (Banked Mammalian Cell Cultures as a Wildlife

Conservation Resource), since it was on a topic completely relevant to this conference,

especially the value of cultured cells as a means of conserving and even restoring a (sub-

)species in the event of the population going extinct. This was appreciated with some

relief by the stressed organizer and proved highly appropriate.

This was a highly enjoyable conference, of surprising sophistication for the most part,

and I suspect it will not be the last we hear of the subject, now that modern molecular and

reproductive technologies are beginning to make what was once unthinkable become

increasingly plausible, and maybe even, in time, respectable!

I much appreciate financial assistance from the University of Cape Town (for the ISBER

conference) and from the Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of

Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland (for the REEA conference).

Eric H.Harley Ph.D., M.D., F.R.C.Path (UK), F.R.S.S.Af.

Publication of the paper "The Restoration of the Quagga - 24 Years of Selective

Breeding" In the Conference book (Restoration of Endangered and Extinct Animals, Ed

Ryszard Slomski, Poznan University of Life Sciences Press, 2010).

2. Photographs are constantly being asked by outside emails for various issues. We spoke

about a “library” system in the US that we could keep these and have them rented out?

3. Animla use protocol There is a need implement an animal care protocol regarding permits, animal care protocol, issues that covers the work with the Quagga when we immobilize them etc. this would also help when asking Cape Nature for “blanket” permits with the QPA

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EQUUS QUAGGA QUAGGA~ PROGRESS? CURRENT TOP THREE FOALS IN THE PROJECT It appears that these three animals stand out as the best three. (NM09 is still needs to be sexed but is possibly a female, other two are males) Freddy~ Kosierskraal

NM09~ Weddewill

Henry~ Pampoenvallei

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The following are also very good animals, showing the continuity of success of the selective breeding program RM08 Pampoenvallei

Neil~ Weddewil

Michele~ Far Horizons

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NEW FOALS BORN since last meeting/ coordinator’s report in Feb 2010 5 animals have been born since our last meeting, four of which appear to excellent specimens, only the one at Groote Schuur was disappointing Elandsberg foal GL10 no 128 DOB 01/07/2010 father George mother Lesley

Elandsberg foal DJ10 no 127 DOB 01/06/2010 Father George Mother Jeanetta

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Boland Landbou Susan female no 124 01/08/2009 Father Douw Mother Sandra

Boland Landbou foal DS10 no 126 DOB 01/05/2010 FatherDouw Mother Strelza

Groote Schuur foal ES10 no 130 DOB 01/02/2010 Father Eddie, mother Sally

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