Ten months ago, in December of last year (2007), Sako, Malayan Tapir, was born. At ten months old, she still seems like a baby, but tapirs grow very quickly, and she has already grown to about two-thirds the size of her mother, Liza.

Although we haven't weighed him recently, his birth weight was 8.35 kilograms, and we estimate he now weighs around 150 kilograms. However, despite his size, he still seems to be very attached to his mother, and we sometimes see him sleeping while still latched onto her breast.

However, it's about time we started thinking about separating the mother and offspring. Dan, who was born last time, is a male, so we decided to separate him from his mother and raise him in a separate room before he turned one year old. Sako is a female, so I thought it would be fine for her to stay with her mother even after she turned one year old. However, a physical problem arose: the bedroom is too small.

When we separated Liza and Dan, Dan's heart-wrenching cries echoed throughout the tapir enclosure. The thought of having to hear that cry again weighs heavily on my mind, but it's something we have to do for the sake of the tapirs' future.

Malayan Tapir spend most of their daytime sleeping. I wish I could show you more of them moving around, but I haven't found a good way to do so, and I feel bad about that every day.

Liza and Sako usually spend their time sleeping in a corner of the indoor exhibit area while the zoo is open, but since mid-September this year, they have been spending more time in the pool. Previously, they would only stay in the water for about 30 minutes before coming out, but now they sometimes stay in for almost the entire day, from morning until evening. This is the first time they have spent so much time in the water since the current Malayan Tapir enclosure opened in 2000.

The two of them dive underwater together, bubbling as they go, and don't come up for quite a while. They stay underwater for so long that you start to worry, "Are they okay?", when they suddenly pop their heads up and dive again. It seems they're half asleep underwater. Why do they stay in for so long? If it's hot, they should have been in the water since July or August. Is it to avoid the flies that are common in autumn? -- We don't know the real reason.

However, it's very popular with our visitors. Some people take a quick look and say, "Hippopotamus?" Others only realize it's a tapir after looking at the explanatory panel or the tapir's face.

For children around kindergarten age, the water surface is just at eye level, so they seem to enjoy looking up and down at the water. In fact, even adults can enjoy a different view if they squat down.

Tapirs almost always defecate when they enter the water. Of course, they defecate normally on land as well, but they do so more often in the water. This behavior is thought to be related to the environment of their habitat. In the case of Liza and Sako, they always defecate when they enter the pool. As a result, if they stay in the pool all day, the pool quickly turns brown. The keeper is relieved that he can watch the tapirs moving around, but on the other hand, he is kept busy cleaning the pool. --Well, I guess I'll get started cleaning the pool again today.

Photo above: Mother and daughter enter the pool together (Liza is in the foreground, Sako in the background).
Photo below: Liza diving

[Tama Zoo, Tama Zoological Park]

(October 31, 2008)