Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus)

Born: 22.02.06
Sex: Female
Lives at: Port Lympne

Tapirs are unapologetic water-lovers, and Tengui is no exception! Her favourite past-time on a hot day is a nice cool dip in the pond.  Tengui is a real favourite with keepers and visitors alike.

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Fun Facts about Malayan Tapirs

Malayan tapirs have very poor eyesight and rely on their excellent sense of smell.

Diet & habits

Tapirs use their gripping trunk to grab branches for their leaves and tasty fruit, they will eat in the morning and in the evening. 

Tapirs help with the reseeding of plants when they defecate and deposit seeds they have eaten. The world's biggest tapir, the black and white Malayan tapir can grow to 360kg.

Where they can be found in the wild?

You can find tapirs in the forests and grasslands of Central and Southern America, with the exception of the woolly tapir, which lives high in the Andes mountains.

What do tapirs love to do each day?

Tapirs like to roll around in the mud and are excellent swimmers and will dive under the water to find aquatic plants to feed on using their prehensile trunk as a snorkel. They are capable of reaching speeds of up to 20mph to escape predators, often crashing through the undergrowth before diving underwater.

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