Malayan Tapir
Virginia Zoo - Nofolk, Virginia - 30 NOV 2014
Visitors to the Zoo often think tapirs look like giant anteaters, or that they must be related to elephants, because of their prehensile nose. In fact, Tapirs are among the most primitive herbivores, dating back 20 million years and are most closely related to the horse and rhinoceros. In Thailand, tapirs are called “P’som-sett,” meaning “mixture is finished,” which refers to the local belief that tapirs were created from the leftover parts of other animals.
The two tapirs at the Virginia Zoo, male Rimba and female Annie, enjoy bananas and taking a dip in their habitat’s small pond. Rimba was born in the Singapore Zoo and is very active for a tapir, often jogging laps around his habitat or chasing Annie.
In the wild, tapirs can be found in the dense rainforests of Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are herbivores, eating grasses, aquatic vegetation, leaves, buds, soft twigs and fruits of low shrubs. Excellent swimmers and divers, tapirs often breathe with their snouts poked above the water surface like a snorkel. Tapirs are endangered and their numbers are decreasing due to habitat destruction and fragmentation. Large scale deforestation, including illegal logging and the growth of palm oil plantations, is a major factor in the loss of their habitat.
Malayan Tapir
Virginia Zoo - Nofolk, Virginia - 30 NOV 2014
Visitors to the Zoo often think tapirs look like giant anteaters, or that they must be related to elephants, because of their prehensile nose. In fact, Tapirs are among the most primitive herbivores, dating back 20 million years and are most closely related to the horse and rhinoceros. In Thailand, tapirs are called “P’som-sett,” meaning “mixture is finished,” which refers to the local belief that tapirs were created from the leftover parts of other animals.
The two tapirs at the Virginia Zoo, male Rimba and female Annie, enjoy bananas and taking a dip in their habitat’s small pond. Rimba was born in the Singapore Zoo and is very active for a tapir, often jogging laps around his habitat or chasing Annie.
In the wild, tapirs can be found in the dense rainforests of Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are herbivores, eating grasses, aquatic vegetation, leaves, buds, soft twigs and fruits of low shrubs. Excellent swimmers and divers, tapirs often breathe with their snouts poked above the water surface like a snorkel. Tapirs are endangered and their numbers are decreasing due to habitat destruction and fragmentation. Large scale deforestation, including illegal logging and the growth of palm oil plantations, is a major factor in the loss of their habitat.