Ronnie Tapir and the Capybara

Dudley Zoo, Dudley, West Midlands, England ~

February 16, 2010

Ronnie (a young lowland tapir) notices something . . .

. . . which happens to be a capybara nibbling on tree bark.

. . . and the capybara notices Ronnie.

Tapirs are curious . . . so let's check it out.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Even more interesting. I wonder what the capybara was eating. I have no idea if baby tapirs learn in the same way as baby bears, but I watched a movie in which it was shown that baby bears learned which foods were edible by smelling mom's breath while she was eating. I wonder if tapirs do the same thing, or if Robbie was just responding to an intersting odor?

It seems quite fascinating to the baby tapir . . .

. . . though less so to the capybara!

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Meena and Baby at Dudley Zoo

Dudley Zoo, Dudley, West Midlands, England ~
 February 16, 2010
Lowland tapirs Meena (the mom) and baby Ronnie

When we were in England last February, it was impossible not to stop in at Dudley Zoo in the West Midlands. I've posted pictures of the incredibly picturesque Dudley Castle, around which the zoo is built, but I have not begun to post my zoo and tapir pictures until today. We had an amazing visit, not only because there was a baby tapir, but thanks to zoo owners, staff, and especially tapir keeper Laura Robbins (whose hand you see here coaxing the tapirs out of their stall), this was one of the pleasantest zoo visits I've had in my many years of visiting zoos. The weather was perfect, the people delightful, and the tapirs, of course, too adorable for words. I took many photos and will be posting them here - hopefully several per week. I'll mix it up a little, but the main theme for the moment will be the tapirs of Dudley Zoo.

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A Tapir that Doesn't Like Water?

I've borrowed this photo from Anthony Long and World Tapir Day on Facebook. To see more of the series and see the interesting (and funny) story, check out World Tapir Day on Facebook. Because it's impossible to make a link directly to the date it was posted, you may have to scroll down the feed to September 23, 2010.

Or . . . here is a link directly to the album.

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Beautiful Mountain Tapir Photo by Diego Lizcano

Photo copyright Diego J. Lizcano

The mountain tapir was was featured as the daily photo for August 18, 2010 on this post on the Bush Warriors blog. Their blog's subtitle, "Stop Poaching and Bushmeat," is one of their important messages. The Bush Warriors' aim is to raise awareness of the "war against some of the most endangered species on our planet." As they noted, the mountain tapir along with Diego's photo had been featured as the IUCN Species of the Day. Diego J. Lizcano, a long-time tapir conservationist and researcher, and is a member of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group. Check out the Bush Warriors blog for some truly exceptional photos of animals in the wild.

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Lion Country Lowland Tapir (with Friends)

Photo by Sheryl Todd

January 13, 2008

This lowland tapir at Lion Country Safari near Miami, Florida, is happy hanging out with several species of larger birds. Tapirs not only tolerate, but usually seem to enjoy the company of other animals, find them entertaining, and have been known to miss them when separated.

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Nose to the Ground

It is always fun to see animals depicted on postage stamps. In this case, a lowland (Brazilian) tapir appears to be nibbling its way across the former British Hondurus, modern day Belize. Unfortunately the stamp designer has chosen the wrong species and placed this South American "mountain cow" in the domain of the Baird's tapir. We are consoled that at least someone has bothered to memoralize a tapir at all. Tapir and Friends Animal Store has an outstanding selection of tapir items. Plastic tapirs and stuffed tapirs are usually Malayan or Asian tapir replicas, but we have knitted tapirs representing each species and unique t-shirt designs as well.

by Lee

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TPF Awards $1,000.00 Grant to Emilio Constantino's Conservation Project in the Colombian Orinoco

Photo copyright Emilio Constantino

The Tapir Preservation Fund (TPF) is pleased to announce the winning project for our July-August 2010 call for proposals. The project, "Saving the Orinoco Tapirs in Eastern Colombia," is part of a larger initiative, "Saving Wildlife in the Colombian Orinoco," targeted to protect habitat and numerous threatened wildlife species in the region designated by the project through education, assessment, and the management of private reserves. TPF's "Heidi Frohring Memorial Fund" award of $1,000.00 will help Emilio work toward these goals.

Please read more about this award and the project on the new blog TPF is helping to maintain as part of our contribution to Emilio's work in the Orinoco of Colombia's eastern plains.

Our special thanks to the W.O. and G.L. Frohring Foundation for making this award possible.

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Skull of Baird's Tapir

This is actually a cast, and not the real skull of Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii). I took the photo at the Museum of Natural History in San Diego. I thought the exhibits there were excellent, and I wrote quite a bit about the museum experience on today's Animal Art Along the Way blog post.

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Watch Your Manners!

Last Sunday, the Tapir Preservation Fund took a field trip to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, to observe the resident pair of Malayan or Asian tapirs. It was so much fun to listen to the many visitors incorrectly identify our burly friends as large pigs. Then again in this picture the female, with her tongue hanging out, is "hamming it up" or just acting like a ... you know what!. Tapir and Friends Animal Store has a large variety of Asian tapir items, especially plastic tapirs, knitted tapirs, and stuffed tapirs. Of course tapirs are not remotely related to pigs, but are more closely associated with rhinos and horses.

Posted by Lee

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Counting Noses!

Near, where the Tapajos River pours into the Amazon in Central Brazil, there is the tourist town of Alter do Chao that has reputely the most beautiful beach in all of Brazil. In a special shop which sells exclusively native craft, I found this wooden lowland tapir replica which I felt would be treasured by Sheryl, the owner of Tapir and Friends Animal Store. There were no small wooden tapir replicas to send back for Tapir and Friends Animal Store, but Sheryl has just received a shipment of beautifully-detailed plastic tapir replicas and sells a variety of other tapir products. It is difficult to find tapir items to sell other than the Asian tapir replicas , but the store has some lovely t-shirts and knitted tapirs which depict the South American and Central American species.

written by Lee

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