Equus capensis

{{Short description|Extinct species of zebra}}

{{Speciesbox

|fossil_range = {{fossil range|Pleistocene}}

| extinct = yes

|genus = Equus

|parent = Equus (Hippotigris)

|species = capensis

|authority = Broom, 1909

}}

Equus capensis (E. capensis), the Giant Cape zebra, is an extinct species of zebra{{Cite journal|last1=Eisenmann|first1=Vera|title=EQUUS CAPENSIS (MAMMALIA, PERISSODACTYLA) FROM ELANDSFONTEIN|url=http://www.vera-eisenmann.com/IMG/pdf/128.E.capensis.pdf|accessdate=9 February 2017|journal= Palaeontologia Africana|date=January 2000|volume=36|pages=91–96|archive-date=10 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010205509/https://vera-eisenmann.com/IMG/pdf/128.E.capensis.pdf|url-status=dead}} that lived during the Pleistocene of South Africa. E. capensis was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909.Churcher CS (2006) Distribution and history of the Cape zebra (Equus capensis) in the Quaternary of Africa. Trans Roy Soc SAfr 61(2):89–95

E. capensis can be estimated to have grown to about {{cvt|150|cm}} at the withers and {{cvt|400|kg|lb}} 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.{{cite journal |display-authors=6 |author1=Ludovic Orlando |author2=Jessica L. Metcalf |author3=Maria T. Alberdi |author4=Miguel Telles Antunes-Dominique Bonjean |author5=Marcel Otte |author6=Fabiana Martin |author7=Véra Eisenmann |author8=Marjan Mashkour|author9=Flavia Morello |author10=Jose L. Prado |author11=Rodolfo Salas Gismondi-Bruce J Shockey |author12=Patrick J. Wrinn |author13=Sergei K. Vasil'ev |author14=Nikolai D. Ovodov |author15=Michael I. Cherry Blair Hopwood |author16=Dean Male |author17=Jeremy J. Austin |author18=Catherine Hänni |author19=Alan Cooper |title=Revising the recent evolutionary history of equids using ancient DNA |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA |year=2009 |pages=21754–21759 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0903672106 |volume=106 |issue=51 |pmid=20007379 |pmc=2799835|bibcode=2009PNAS..10621754O |doi-access=free }}