Could this Malayan tapir be the new Chickaboo?
In a very, very rare sighting, the endangered animal was spotted roaming in Changi, Singapore last Friday.
The Malayan tapir, known for its distinctive black head and white patch round its middle, was seen running alongside a metal fence in a blurry picture taken by a reader of Lianhe Zaobao – a Chinese daily in Singapore – at around 4.30am.
When a member of the public alerted Singapore’s Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), the tapir had reportedly disappeared into the sea.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, as translated by The Star Online, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum researcher Marcus Chua believed that the nocturnal animal had swum across the strait from Johor to Singapore, as tapirs are not found in the republic.
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“Tapirs are good swimmers and solitary creatures. This one might have taken a short rest at Tekong Island, or just swam straight to Singapore, I guess,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the sighting is “extremely rare” for Singapore.
Marcus was further quoted as saying that the endangered animal could be forced out of its habitat because of rapid development in the region.
The largest of five tapir species in the world, the last reported sighting of a Malayan tapir in Singapore was in 1986 on Pulau Ubin.
The Malayan tapir is the only species native to Asia and over the years, its numbers have decreased significantly, with an estimated population of less than 2,000 as of 2008. Habitat destruction has been identified as one of the main threats facing the Malayan tapir in Peninsular Malaya.
