Taipei Zoo is hoping that a female Malayan tapir that arrived on loan from Singapore Zoo will mate with its male tapir, contributing to the endangered species’ survival, it said on Monday.
The eight-and-a-half-year-old female tapir, called Putri, arrived in Taipei on Wednesday last week on hopes that she would mate with seven-and-a-half-year-old Mosu (貘樹), Taipei Zoo said.
Putri would be taken to the zoo’s Conservation and Research Center once she completes 30 days of quarantine, it said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo via CNA
Once she gets accustomed to her new surroundings and keepers, she would be introduced to Mosu, it added.
The veterinarian who has monitored the female tapir since its arrival in Taiwan said Putri is docile and approachable, and has been acting friendly toward the keepers from the first time they met.
The loan was made under the European Endangered Species Programme, which was launched in 1985 to issue zoos with mandatory breeding recommendations to keep genetic diversity as high as possible and avoid inbreeding.
The Malayan tapir, also called the Asian tapir and Asiatic tapir and the only one endemic to Asia, Africa and Europe, is the largest of the four widely recognized species of tapir.
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