Tapir born at Nyiregyhaza Zoo

According to origo.hu, a tapir was born at the Nyiregyhaza Zoo, the visitors can see the strange little animal from spring.

Zsuzsa Revesz Petro, zoo spokeswoman and department head, told MTI: the mother of the little tapir arrived at the Nyiregyhaza-Sostofurdo institution in the framework of the European Species Conservation Program, and a male has long lived there.

The female gave birth the offspring after 13 months of gestation.

The little tapir’s fur is light-colored striped lengthwise and there are pattern-like spots on it. The fur color, which is for camouflage, disappears in a few months and it will be the same color as its parents.

Zsuzsa Revesz Petro pointed out: according to the ancient legend, God put the tapir together of pieces remained after the creation of other animals. The animal hardly changed in 35 million years and it is very strange-looking. Its skull is huge and there is a bone rowel on the front section. Its upper lip and nose united form a downward snout, there are four fingers on the forelegs and three fingers on the back feet of its hog-like body, origo.hu wrote.

The tapir is only herbivore, it is a very peaceful, but compared to its size, an incredibly agile and nimble animal.

Its natural enemies are jaguars and pumas in the nature, and if it got attacked, it plunges into the woods as a torpedo, thanks to its physique and short fur. There are four breeds of tapirs on earth, the stock of South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is the most stable, but it is endangered, in addition to the habitat destruction and deforestation, by illegal hunting as well, so it is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

At the Nyiregyhaza Zoo, the tapir couple and their baby live in the Andes House being built, which was technologically handed over recently, and the facility showing the specimen of the South American fauna will be opened for the general public from spring.

based on the article of origo.hu
translated by BA

Photos: MTI

Source: http://www.origo.hu