Malayan+tapir



=General Information =  Malayan Tapir lives in the Southeast Asia and it's often called Asian Tapir. The other three species (Mountain Tapir, Lowland Tapir and Baird's Tapir) live in the Americans.

The animal is easily identified by its markings. It has black body (hair) with a white patch and the white tips of its ears. Baby Tapirs are lot cuter than the grown-ups. Their pattern reminds of Zebra’s except Tapir’s base colour is black/brown and the stripes are white. This helps the babies to stay alive. They can easily hide in the forest. Tapir’s and pig’s bodies are very similar, but when you compare the heads you can’t mix them. Tapir has a weird “nose”, which looks like short version of Elephant’s snout.

Malayan Tapirs are 1,8m to 2,4m long and 90m to 107cm tall. They weight about 250-320kg. Quite big animals!

The gestation period is 390-395 days long. After that a single offspring is born. Tapirs grow really fast, 6-9 months later from birth are they nearly grown-ups. Babies’ lovely hair fades earlier. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 3.

The Malayan tapir has very poor eyesight, but excellent sense of smell and hearing.

Malayan Tapirs are vegetarian, so they eat all sorts of leaves. They live in forests, preferring to live near water. Tapirs like to take baths and swim. Over all they live very relaxed life. Tapirs are mainly active at night. They take naps at days and middle of night, which tells us that they like to sleep a lot!

 Baby Tapir at Edinburgh Zoo

 Tapir species

=Where does it live and why is it endangered?= The Malayan Tapir used to live in wide areas of South Asian rainforests but today it is near to extinction like the three other Tapir species. Novadays the Malayan Tapirs live in southern Thailand and southern Myanmar, in Malaysia and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Malayan, or as said, Asian Tapir's population estimate in year 2008 was from 1500 to 2000 individuals and the numbers are decreasing.  The main reason for Tapirs' threateningly approaching extinction is the human race. For axample illegal trade, flooding caused by the damming and deforestration are a big threat for Tapir species. Because of their size Tapirs have not many natural predators and even tigers hunt them very seldom.



Range of Malayan Tapir

Interesting facts about Tapirs (from http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/14hooves.htm)
 • Tapirs love bananas.  • They also eat other fruit and plants.  • They are related to horses and rhinoceroses.  • They make squeaking and chirping noises.  • They swim very well and love water.  • They have not changed much in 20 million years.  • A tapir can move its nose in all directions, smelling.  • It has 4 toes on each front foot, 3 on each back foot.  • A tapir can out-maneuver a dog. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • They can climb over steep hills, logs and fences. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • They can crash thorough the jungle like a tank. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • They run to water when hunted or scared. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • They bulldoze tunnels in jungle undergrowth. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Tapirs are often hunted by humans. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Tapirs can live about 30 years. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Tapirs may be solitary or live in small family groups. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Baby tapirs stay with their mothers about two years. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Nobody knows if tapirs mate for life. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Mountain tapirs have the longest hair, about one inch. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Tapirs have very tough skin, like hard leather. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • A tapir pulls food into its mouth with its flexible nose. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Man is by far the tapir's worst enemy. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • Much of the tapirs' habitat has been destroyed. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • It takes 13 months to make one baby tapir. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> • ALL SPECIES OF TAPIR ARE ENDANGERED.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Sources:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://tapirgallery.blogspot.com/ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2010/02/28/malay_tapir_photo/ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.tapirs.org/tapirs/malay.html <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Tapir <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.arkive.org/asian-tapir/tapirus-indicus/

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anna and Lotta