Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) announced earlier today that a female tapir was born in captivity on Tuesday at the Sungai Dusun Wildlife Conservation Centre in Selangor.
The 8.6-kilogram calf was born to a pair of captive tapirs, Mala and Boy.
https://twitter.com/PERHILITAN/status/1219560932596015105
Tapirs are herbivorous mammals known for their long, drooping prehensile snouts, which they use to forage for leaves. The species native to Malaysia is listed as endangered.
Perhilitan is now seeking name suggestions for the lil baby gurl, and has already received some 9,000 suggestions over Twitter.
(If we might, here’s a little suggestion of our own: Coco. Natch.)
Tropical, jungle-clad Malaysia is home to a dizzying array of wildlife, from orangutans to pangolins, but their numbers have been dwindling.
They are targeted by poachers, their natural habitat has been shrinking due to expansion of plantations, and hundreds have been killed on busy roads as the highway network has rapidly expanded.
Malay Tapirs have been no exception to these trends, and the IUCN currently estimates that fewer than 2,500 remain in the wild across their natural habitats in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar.
Related: Recent deaths of sun bears, tapir spark concern over Malaysia’s rare animals
