June 25 (UPI) — The San Diego Zoo announced the birth of a female Baird’s tapir, an endangered animal native to Mexico and Central America.
The zoo said the calf, born June 3 to mother Luna, is now on display next to the facility’s capybaras in an enclosure in the elephant Odyssey section of the zoo.
“Luna bonds with her calf by talking to her, licking her and keeping a close eye on her at all times,” the zoo said in the announcement. “The calf is starting to get ‘zoomies’ and loves to suckle and play with leaves and food even if she isn’t eating it. They spend their time grooming, grooming and lying together.”
The birth was hailed as a milestone for conservation efforts for the Baird’s tapir, which is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. The animals are threatened by sport hunting in Costa Rica and habitat loss due to agriculture, livestock grazing and palm oil and rubber plantations, the zoo said.
