Baby Malayan tapir born at Taipei Zoo, offspring of late 'Moko'

Taipei, July 15 (CNA) A male Malayan tapir that is the offspring of a tapir named Moko (貘克) that died last year shortly after mating was born at the Taipei Zoo on Monday.

The baby was born at 5:15 a.m. to Moli (貘莉), a 16-year-old female Malayan tapir, and managed to stand and walk shortly after birth, according to a press release from the zoo.

At 8:10 a.m., the healthy cub, with a normal appearance and well-healed umbilical cord, drank its first milk from its mother, the zoo said.

The newborn Malayan tapir weighed 7.05 kilograms, 1.3 kilograms heavier than his sister Mohuatou (貘花豆) at birth, and measured 64 centimeters long, Taipei Zoo Director Chen Yi-tsung (諶亦聰) said.

The zoo reported that the baby tapir has a calm personality, remaining peaceful when carried by keepers to be weighed and measured, and only voiced a small protest when a veterinarian treated its umbilical cord.

Chen said the father of the newborn Malayan tapir, Moko, who came from the Prague Zoo in 2018, successfully mated with Moli between May and June last year but passed away in July of acute pulmonary edema.

The mother, Moli, is a first-generation Malayan tapir born at the zoo, and it became a mother for the first time in 2021 when it gave birth to Mohuadou, according to the zoo.

Malayan tapirs (scientific name: Tapirus indicus) are the largest and only Asian tapir species. They have a distinctive black-and-white coloration and a prehensile snout for feeding.

The mammal can be found in Southeast Asian rain forests, including in Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia, but is endangered due to habitat loss and hunting.