Reinhold Eugen Rau (February 7, 1932 – February 11, 2006) was a German natural historian who initiated the

Quagga Project The Quagga Project is an attempt by a group in South Africa to use selective breeding to achieve a breeding lineage of Burchell's zebra (''Equus quagga burchellii'') which visually resemble the extinct quagga (''Equus quagga quagga''). History ...

in South Africa, which aims to re-breed the extinct

quagga The quagga ( or ) (''Equus quagga quagga'') is a subspecies of the plains zebra that was endemic to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century. It was long thought to be a distinct species, but early genetic ...

, a sub-species of zebra. Rau was born in

Friedrichsdorf Friedrichsdorf () is a town of the Hochtaunuskreis, some north of Frankfurt am Main in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Friedrichsdorf is located in the Taunus area, ranking third among the Hochtaunuskreis boroughs after Bad Homburg vor der ...

, Germany, and trained as a

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proc ...

at the

Senckenberg Museum The Naturmuseum Senckenberg is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its type in Germany. The museum contains a large and diverse collection of birds with 90,000 bird skins, 5,050 egg sets, 17,0 ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, joining the

South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important A ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1959. Rau was initially part of a team of seven taxidermists working at the museum. Although principally known for his work on quaggas, Rau also rediscovered a species of tortoise which had been thought extinct. Rau continued to work at the South African Museum following his retirement; he died on February 11, 2006, at his home in Cape Town.

Quaggas

Rau's interest in quaggas began in 1969, when he re-mounted a

foal at the South African Museum. In 1971, Rau visited museums across Europe, and ultimately examined 22 of the world's 23 quagga specimens. Dried tissue samples from the skin of the South African Museum's quagga foal, together with additional tissue samples from the two

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

quaggas that he re-mounted in 1980/81, formed the basis of the DNA analyses that led to the discovery that the Quagga was a subspecies of the Plains Zebra, not a distinct species. This led to Rau founding the

, an attempt to re-breed the extinct Quagga. Rau's quest to rebreed the Quagga is said to have provided inspiration for Michael Crichton's 1990 novel '' Jurassic Park''. In 2000,

the Cape Tercentenary Foundation The Cape Tercentenary Foundation (or Cape 300 Foundation) was set up in 1950 by brothers The Molteno Brothers, Edward and Harry Molteno, pioneers of the Cape fruit industry. The influential exporters were great appreciators of music and the arts, ...

awarded Rau the Molteno Medal for lifetime services to nature conservation in the Cape. In 2013, '' Khumba'', an animated movie about a quagga, was dedicated to Rau's memory.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Reinhold 1932 births 2006 deaths Scientists from Hesse South African naturalists People from Friedrichsdorf German emigrants to South Africa 20th-century naturalists