Peter Heywood is a Professor of Biology in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University, USA, where he has taught since 1974. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. Most of his scholarship has focussed on the cell biology of algae, protists, animals and plants, but he has also published on development of the inner ear in mammals, agricultural biotechnology, pedagogy and biography. His interest in quaggas started in 2006, and he has written on the history of quagga zebras, their representations in biology, art and literature, and their rebreeding.