Despite how unknown Malayan tapirs are, this species has existed for millions of years. And this has not exempted it from facing the great universal threat for many species in the animal world: its extinction. Currently, human action has caused the destruction of its natural environment and is responsible for the poaching of specimens; above all, tapir babies, which have a high value in the smuggling market.

For this reason, the conservation work undertaken by centers such as BIOPARC Fuengirola, which has housed this species of mammal native to Asia, since 2003, is essential.

Until last year, the park had Rawa and Pi, a pair of Malayan tapirs. After several failed attempts at pairing and difficulty in copulation, the coordinator of the European Exsitu Program (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, EAZA, assigned a new male from the Usti zoo, to form a pair with the female, Rawa. , which in turn comes from a zoo in France.

Mekong – that is the name of this male – arrived at the animal park a few weeks ago. After an introduction process, adaptation to the new facilities and approach to the female, they now share a facility outside and inside.

“The adaptation process has been simple. Although in nature they are solitary animals, in zoos they really enjoy the company of a couple. Since Mekong arrived, the Rawa female has been very aware of the presence of the new male, and the interactions through the exit doors of the interior boxes have been more than positive. “Rawa was anxiously waiting to meet her new partner,” explains Rosa Martinez, veterinarian at BIOPARC Fuengirola.

Mekong is a very friendly animal, who has also shown his desire to be with his new companion. The adaptation to its new installation at BIOPARC Fuengirola has been very satisfactory.

“We quickly saw that he was very happy to be able to enjoy the large area of ​​water that the facility has. He has adapted very well to the diet and care offered by the Zoology team. It seems to be delighted with the high humidity and temperatures so similar to its native jungle that we enjoy here in Fuengirola. This is a species with a very low reproduction rate, and we all hope that this new couple brings us many joys in the form of the births of new Malayan tapirs, which help the perpetuation and prevent the disappearance of this unique species,” Martínez highlights.

The tapir lives mainly in tropical forests and open fields. Currently there are five species, four of them original from America and one, the Malayan tapir, from Asia. The latter is a replica of its American counterparts, but with black and white skin.

Bioparc Fuengirola: one of the 23 zoos that works on the conservation of the Malayan tapir within the EAZA

The Malaga conservation center has been home to the Malayan tapir species since 2003. You could say that it is a living fossil, a strange mammal weighing about three hundred kilos that It practically remains the same as its ancestors from more than 55 million years ago and whose closest relatives are the horse and the rhinoceros.

It is an endangered species. Their population in the wild has halved in the last thirty years. Today there are only a few left more than two thousand specimens, 44 of them in zoos who work in the EAZA conservation program for their species. A total of 20 European centers participate in this conservation program, including Bioparc Fuengirola; unique in Spain within the program of this species.

The forecasts for the Malayan tapir are not good. If the trend continues to decline, this species could disappear in the next twenty years.

In its mission to conserve and preserve threatened species and coordinated with EAZA, BIOPARC Fuengirola has managed to fulfill its mission of reproducing species in practically all the programs in which it has participated. This achieves the objective of maintaining, among all participating animal parks at European and global level, a group of each species large enough and genetically diversified to guarantee its future.

BIOPARC Fuengirola continues working on the reproduction of this scarce species, with the hope of being able to contribute to increasing its effective numbers in the near future. The babies show a beautiful speckled coat that helps them go unnoticed among the vegetation of their original habitat in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, until they are one year old. If he finally manages to get this new couple to reproduce, It will become the first time it happens in Spain.