The Rau Quagga is a "man-bred" subspecies of Plains Zebra. It should not be confused with the original, now-extinct, quagga (Equus quagga quagga).

The Original Quagga:
The quagga was a subspecies of the Plains zebra, and used to roam in South Africa until its extinction in the 19th century. It looked like a mixture of a horse and a Burchell's zebra (see 'Burchell's Zebra.') The quagga's head, neck, and sometimes the back and part of the barrel, were striped like in zebras, while the rear, legs, girth, and sometimes the back and barrel, were clear of stripes, thus resembling a horse.

The color of the quagga was also different than in other zebras. Its body was brown except for the legs and, sometimes, the girth, which were white. The stripes were also brown, and were either darker than the body, or same as the body, in which case there will be light gaps between them.

During the 19th century, excessive hunting and lack of conservation efforts eventually drove the quagga into extinction, with the last quagga dying in captivity in 1883. However, the quagga was never forgotten. A bit over a century later, during the 1980s, genetic studies performed on DNA samples from mounted quaggas in museums, found that the quagga was a subspecies of the Plains zebra.

The Rau Quagga:
The close genetic relationship between the Plains zebra and the quagga led a German taxidermist, named Reinhold Rau, to theorize that if the quagga is a subspecies of the Plains zebra, then it might be possible to re-breed quagga-like zebras by selectively breeding existing Plains zebras.

Rau, who spent decades researching the extinct quaggas, decided to start such a breeding project. This project, called "The Quagga Project," is still taking place today, and revolves around selectively breeding Burchell's zebras for a brownish coat, pale legs and belly, and loss of stripes.

Rau Quaggas in Horse Isle:
It is possible to re-create such a breeding project in Horse Isle, by crossing Bruchell's zebras that carry a copy of the rau-quagga gene, and breeding the individuals who have the least stripes and darkest coat. That said, breeders should not expect to breed completely stripe-less rau-quaggas. Just like the rau-quaggas in the real project (as of 2021), rau-quagga in Horse Isle always have stripes on their backs and shoulders.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Rau Quaggas in Horse Isle (not bred ones). In rare cases, zebras might have metrics outside of the range. Breeders can produce zebras that are beyond this range.

Speed: 13.6-15.3, 14.4 (0.4), 0.07.
Sprint: 37-53, 45 (3), 0.65.

Accel: 0.92-1.10, 1.00 (0.03), 0.01.
Decel: 0.77-0.94, 0.86 (0.03), 0.01.

Jump: 4.92-5.14, 5.03 (0.05), 0.01.
Pull: 0.88-1.54, 1.22 (0.14), 0.03.

Turning: 45.17-54.28, 49.40 (2.17), 0.43.
Reverse: 2.2-2.6, 2.4 (0.1), 0.02.

Stamina: 42.93-48.78, 46.41 (1.11), 0.22.
Reaction: 0.61-0.72, 0.67 (0.03), 0.01.

Height:
In Horse Isle, rau-quaggas have the same height range as Burchell's zebras, which is 11.1hh to 13.2hh.