''Equus capensis'' (''E. capensis''), the 'giant Cape zebra', is an extinct species of

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

that lived during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. ''E. capensis'' was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909. ''E. capensis'' can be estimated to have grown to about at the withers and in body mass. A 2009 DNA study analyzed several museum specimens identified as Cape zebras and concluded that all specimens tested clustered within the plains zebra, ''Equus quagga'', with ''E. q. quagga'' and ''E. q. burchelli'', rather than belonging to a distinct species.

References

Pleistocene horses Zebras Taxa named by Robert Broom Fossil taxa described in 1909 Pleistocene mammals of Africa {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub