malayan tapirs

malayan tapirs
23-02-2006

i found this husbandry manual for tapirs on the net..

www.tapirspecialistgroup.org/Downloads/ standards/tapir-TAG-husband-stan-en.doc -

although it does not go into much detail about the eye problems that are particuarly prevalent in the asian species it does attribute it closely to not having adequate amounts of shade in the exhibit. i mentioned earlier that it was my belief that malayan tapirs are noctournal. however this document states that they may be crepsular, diurnal or noctournal though it is talking of tapirs in general and is not species specific.

although the melbourne and sydney tapir exhibits provide adequate shade, as anyone who sits in the shade on a bright day knows, this doesn't neccersarily stop glare from surrounding sunny areas. i would be interested to know if adelaide's malayan tapirs have the same eye problems and whether any zoo has ever attempted keeping the animals in very dim holding yards or indoors during the day and only allowing them access outside at night.

the manual also mentions that although tapirs seem somewhat inactive - large terrestrial areas for excercise and breeding behaviour is important. though i think it is not desireable, i have seen tapir exhibited without pools at all and i would guess land area is far more important than swimming space. the taronga exhibit did not look particuarly shady or large in land area, but addmittedly i have not seen it.

23-02-2006

tarongas arent tht bad , very effective from a visitors veiw , and the foligae will grow over a bit , and they are rotated between the exhibits

but from wht i have seen of melbournes and adelaide , they dnt stand up gainst them for the animals ,

also 1 of tarongas will eventually be ,mixed species , with the otters

23-02-2006

i dunno. if the tapir's eyes are so bad that they need to wear "masks" to block out the sun, clearly taronga's exhibit, no matter how attractive for visitors, is grossly inadequate. it seems unusual that the condition is broughton by sunlight alone - there may be some dietry elemant that is also missing. but if it is common knowledge that the sun aggrevates the illness. why do we insist on displaying them during daylight at the zoo?

23-02-2006

well they 2 tapir have only just moved in to the new enclousure , the other was very open , it been goin on for ages

24-02-2006

yea gday

i was jsut on the aparza site and was reading about plans and projects for odd toed ungulates , and 1 of the biggest areas of research was health problems , and next to it malayan tapir eye probs , in all zoos

24-02-2006

Yes all the malayan tapirs at Adelaide zoo are blind

24-02-2006

really , we have been debating this on many forums , see tarongas both were sunglasses ! like a mask sorta thing

so im not alone , i have had ppl sayin only tarongas have eye probs thnx mate

24-02-2006

what a terrible shame that every malayan tapir in australia has gone blind! i am somewhat facinated by this whole thing. i really want to know if this condition is just as prevalent in overseas zoos.

24-02-2006

coulnt tell ya mate , maybe its the ozone layer hole over australia lol

21-04-2007

Malayn tapirs are the biggest tapir, the only one to live out of south america and the most aggressive.

21-04-2007

why thankyou, i love malay tapir, they def look impressive and fit for life in a equatoral forest. its a shame the sun in austalia is messing with them, and focus will now shift to south american species to maintain a tapir species if a solution is not found to the eye prob

taronga just put up huge cargo army netting above there tapir exhibits, it does take away from the overall asia precint, but at leat the tapir have there goggles off, and when in the exhibit spaces certainly looks like a dense jungle

21-04-2007

I have adopted a Brazilian Tapir at Chester zoo and have seen all 4 species of Tapir in zoos.

21-04-2007

I feel sure you get too much wonderful sunshine and bright light in Australia for the Malayan Tapirs' sensitive eyes. After allt tey are a deep forest species, like Sumatran rhino -which have also suffered eye problems in captivity.

I haven't heard of this condition among the Malayan tapirs in UK. Next visit to Port Lympne I will try and ask the keepers. They have about 8 of them, and have bred them quite well. They have very large, wooded enclosures there (one of which used to be the Sumatran rhinos ') with small wallow and pool areas. I seem to remember Tapirs like to 'deposit' in water so its often used for this purpose rather than for bathing...

Are they nocturnal/diurnal or crepuscular? Well those at PL always seem to be asleep or invisible(or both) for what that's worth. Other zoos which have, or have recently exhibited this species, usually pairs only, in the UK are Twycross,Belfast, Marwell & ZSL (Chester had them previously) but they are fairly unusual over here. They are scattered around European & American zoos too.

21-04-2007

Twycross recently lost their male. Maybe they could pair up their female with Edinburgh's new Calf?

21-04-2007

I didn't know Edinburgh had them. They won't suffer from too much sunlight up there... Twycross always seem to only have one Malayan Tapir- but they always seem about to get a new partner. I haven't seen two at Twycross for many years now, though I have a good postcard showing a pair there in the past. I think this latest male they have lost has not been there too long.
The Twycross enclosure is shady but rather small and basic.