Spain’s first Malayan tapir is born in captivity

It weighs around 10 kilos (22 lb), its sex is still unknown, and it doesn’t even have a name. But there’s a small animal with dark hair and white spots that has kept a large team of specialists on edge ever since its mother became pregnant in early 2024. Their nervousness was understandable. This is the first Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), an endangered species, ever to be born in Spain. And it is one of only 24 worldwide to have done so in the last decade in captivity.

“We’ve been trying for many years, and it’s finally been possible. We’re thrilled; it’s incredible,” enthuses Javier Vicent, head of the Zoology team at Bioparc Fuengirola, where the miracle was captured and recorded by the zoo’s cameras. Everyone there now spends 24 hours a day monitoring the calf to ensure it’s developing well.

“They are very unique mammals,” says Vicent, noting that adults typically weigh around 300 kilos (600 lb). They are solitary, herbivorous, and live in the jungles of Malaysia and on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They are related to horses and rhinoceroses. As prey for large predators like the tiger, they have a highly developed sense of hearing and smell, although they suffer from myopia.

Their mottled fur evolves gradually, and when they are six months old, they change to a very distinctive adult coloration: one part white and the other black, which helps them camouflage themselves among the light and dark of the jungle. This is a basic element for their survival.

Even more so given that there are barely 2,500 individuals left in the wild (plus about 50 in captivity), who are having increasing difficulty reproducing due to the fragmentation of their habitat because of deforestation for crops. That’s why the birth of this baby tapir is such a joy to behold.

The birth gives meaning to a conservation program that the center, located on the Costa del Sol, has been pursuing for more than two decades. Rawa — the mother’s name — and Mekong — the father — are the latest specimens to pass through these facilities under the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) Endangered Species Program. It hasn’t been easy, especially because for captive breeding to happen, there must be compatibility between the adults, and that’s not easy at all. Some didn’t tolerate each other well. And those who did were not interested in sex.

Rawa, who arrived in Málaga at 11 months old in 2019 from France, also struggled with another male named Pi. That was until Mekong showed up in 2023, at the age of eight, from Sweden. Then everything fell into place. The pair got along well, and at the end of that year they began to mate. They were last seen mating in early 2024, but the impregnation is believed to have occurred weeks later, as the calf was finally born on March 29th after 13 months, a typical gestation period for the species.

A quick birth

For weeks, some movements had been noticed in the female’s abdomen — like the little kicks that pregnant women feel — and the entire team was reassured because the weekly ultrasounds indicated that everything was progressing as planned. Then, on Friday afternoon, the mother began to feel more nervous than usual, and by nightfall, things got worse.

At 3:20 a.m., she delivered her baby in less than two minutes. The calf cleared the membranes, ate the placenta, and shortly afterward was nursing. The images captured by the surveillance cameras “show the strength and tenderness of this natural process, highlighting the beauty of one of the most unknown and endangered species on the planet,” according to the animal park, one of 20 worldwide and the only one in Spain working on the conservation of the Malayan tapir within EAZA.

“There is information in international manuals, but it’s a poorly described species, so we’re being very cautious and monitoring everything during the quarantine,” says the veterinarian Adrián Martínez.

Rawa, who is a first-time mother, is responding well to the baby’s care and feeding. The calf is also doing well: eating, following the mother, walking well, and responding to stimulation. It’s showing energy, and that’s important. When it’s a week old, Martínez will check it to determine its sex and weight, and conduct an extensive examination.

“I’m excited about this birth,” says the vet, who believes the baby is a female. “But it’s not yet confirmed,” he warns. If everything keeps going smoothly, the young tapir will soon be allowed outdoors.

The team of specialists at the Málaga facility has 24-hour access — even from home — to the cameras that monitor the progress of the mother and her baby. They will spend the next six to nine months together if their relationship is good.

From then on, the baby will be transferred to another center to continue supporting the future of the species. And if it is confirmed that she is a female, a male will be found for her who is not genetically related to either one of her parents so that she, too, can become a mother someday.

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