April 27 - World Tapir Day.
Tapir (Tapirus) - a genus of herbivores of the family Tapiridae from order of ungulates. They look a bit like a pig, but have a short trunk. Four species of modern tapirs live in South and Central America, and one species - in Southeast Asia.
All species of tapirs are inhabitants of tropical forests. It is because of the destruction of forests, their homes, all species of tapirs are very vulnerable.
Tapirs are one of the oldest modern mammals. And they are very interesting for their unusual appearance and behavior.
In Mykolaiv zoo are kept inhabitants of South America - lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris). Our guys Pinto, Piro and Solo are all different in character - someone is kinder, and someone likes to bully. Employees are well aware of their peculiarities.
The diet of tapirs is similar to the diet of horses - tapirs eat hay, grass, fresh vegetables. All tapirs love to swim, so in the enclosure, both in winter and in summer, there is a pool. And lowland tapirs are well tamed. Our tapirs are also contact, they like to play, so the zoo often enriches the environment for them, demonstration feeding is carried out, sometimes with the involvement of young biologists of the zoo.
Photo from our archive. Quarantine…