A cow? A tiny elephant? A pig? Nope, it’s a tapir!

Love my camouflage?

The tapir which is chosen today is the Malayan tapir. I don’t recall seeing a tapir at the Zoo Negara or our local Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. Tapirs have very interesting looks in my opinion. These creatures look like a pig because of their build, they also look like a cow with their coloration, and maybe a baby elephant because of their proboscis (A proboscis is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts that are used for feeding or sucking, for example, a butterfly. In vertebrates, the term is used to describe an elongated nose or snout, for example, a proboscis monkey or a tapir.). But they are uniquely different; they have a bit of all the three.

The animal is identified by its markings, with light colored ‘patch’ that extends from its shoulders to its rear end. The rest of its hair is black except for the tips of its ears, just like the rest of the other species of tapirs. It can grow to about 1.8 to 2.4 meters in length and does not include its tail which is about 5 to 10 centimeters in length. They stand 90 to 107 centimeters tall and weighs between 250 to 320 kilograms. Some adults had been known to weigh up to 540 kilograms, now that is really heavy and almost 8 times my weight.

Just Chilling

 Tapirs are also known to have poor eyesight, but excellent smell senses and hearing. Tapirs have a gestation period of 390 to 395 days, which is very long compared to a human. Not only that, they will only give birth to one offspring at a time that usually weighs around 6.8 kilograms. Malayan tapirs are solitary creatures, using their urine to mark areas as their territory. They are herbivores and use their patterns to camouflage themselves, this causes the predators to not see them and mistaken them for a rock when they are not moving. They can even protect themselves with a strong jaw and sharp teeth. They are also great swimmers too, I wish I could swim like them!

Baby Tapir (These patterns fade after 4 to 7 months after birth)

These creatures are labeled as an endangered species. Due to their size, the Malayan tapirs do not have many predators. But they are decreasing quickly in numbers because of our human activities which includes deforestation for agricultural purposes, flooding caused by the damming of rivers for hydroelectric projects, and illegal trade. Protected status in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which is meant to stop deliberate killings of these animals, is not effective because it does not consider the issue of the loss of habitat.

I hope the government would look into this matter and watch where they bring their development projects to, they might be destroying the homes of the beautiful Malayan Tapirs.