Australasian Tapir Population

Zoofan15 said:
The Collared peccary can potentially live into their early 20’s, so Melbourne Zoo may look at transferring them to a wildlife park if they’re still alive when the space is needed to create a Brazilian tapir exhibit. To be honest, I wish they’d done that as soon as they decided they’d be phasing them out, so somebody else could have bred them and we wouldn’t be losing this species from the region.

Melbourne Zoo could potential hold a 1.2 breeding group of Brazilian tapir across the two exhibits. Females are semi-social (especially when related), so ideally multiple founders would be imported within the region, with Melbourne receiving a founder female and her first generation daughter (to breed with an unrelated founder male); or a breeding pair with the male swapped out once female offspring is produced.
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Knowing Melbourne I think they'll wait until the Peccaries die, and leave the Tapir enclosure empty in the meantime. ;) Or throw some ducks in there. :D

Capybara would actually suit the enclosure too. I think they're a good secondary option if Melbourne don't wish to reimport Brazilian Tapir.
 
Jambo said:
Knowing Melbourne I think they'll wait until the Peccaries die, and leave the Tapir enclosure empty in the meantime. ;) Or throw some ducks in there. :D

Capybara would actually suit the enclosure too. I think they're a good secondary option if Melbourne don't wish to reimport Brazilian Tapir.
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Semangka the Malayan tapir is 23 years old and getting on in years, so her exhibit could open up long before the last peccaries pass on.

Potentially Melbourne could join a group import of Brazilian tapir and hold a single male with the view of acquiring surplus females from imported pairs at other zoos down the line once the two exhibits are merged into one.

It wouldn’t be difficult to hold a single tapir off display during this time and would give them something more inspiring to put in the empty Malayan tapir exhibit than ducks.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Semangka the Malayan tapir is 23 years old and getting on in years, so her exhibit could open up long before the last peccaries pass on.

Potentially Melbourne could join a group import of Brazilian tapir and hold a single male with the view of acquiring surplus females from imported pairs at other zoos down the line once the two exhibits are merged into one.

It wouldn’t be difficult to hold a single tapir off display during this time and would give them something more inspiring to put in the empty Malayan tapir exhibit than ducks.
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I would honestly be widely surprised if Melbourne plan to reimport Brazilian Tapir, at least in the meantime. I mean, within the past decade the only interesting import we've had is some Nyala (which probably haven't even arrived yet), and some Dingoes, which are supposedly off display.

Saying that, I would prefer for Melbourne to import Brazilian Tapir, and they might for all we know. But realistically, it's unlikely imo. I'll see if I can ask about this during my next visit.
 
Jambo said:
I would honestly be widely surprised if Melbourne plan to reimport Brazilian Tapir, at least in the meantime. I mean, within the past decade the only interesting import we've had is some Nyala (which probably haven't even arrived yet), and some Dingoes, which are supposedly off display.

Saying that, I would prefer for Melbourne to import Brazilian Tapir, and they might for all we know. But realistically, it's unlikely imo. I'll see if I can ask about this during my next visit.
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Unfortunately I don’t think they’d give you an answer on an import that’s likely years away (with the other zoos looking at a similar timeframe as well). The elephant phase out will hopefully motivate them to think outside the box and apply themselves to overseas imports - and not just for the purpose of replacing the elephants.

The alternative is other zoos do the leg work and import a handful of Brazilian tapir between them, that in turns supply those who chose not to support. Europe is apparently overstocked and won’t want our surplus sent there.
 
Melbourne hasnt got there nyala yet and they have been on the map for months, they left the pygmy hippo exhibit where petra lived vacent even to this day, and there is a sign that say something exiting is coming soon i will probarly be a species they already have, it would be good if they got a female pygmy hippo but that ist going to happen they could move the peccaries into the vacent hippo exibit which they have done before, then they could get to the tapir soon
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
Melbourne hasnt got there nyala yet and they have been on the map for months, they left the pygmy hippo exhibit where petra lived vacent even to this day, and there is a sign that say something exiting is coming soon i will probarly be a species they already have, it would be good if they got a female pygmy hippo but that ist going to happen they could move the peccaries into the vacent hippo exibit which they have done before, then they could get to the tapir soon
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I believe the Nyala have been held u by integration issues on the Savannah re. giraffe and zebra. Werribee are easily able to accomodate them for longer.

I’d like your idea of shifting the peccaries into that exhibit (or transferring them to a zoo that will breed them) and repurposing the space for tapir; but sadly I don’t believe imports are on the horizon for this species. It’s more likely Melbourne will acquire them once other facilities have imported and bred imo.

On a personal note, I wish Melbourne Zoo (and others zoos) would stop baiting their visitors with signs promising something exciting is coming. The “something exciting” has been an anticlimax every time.
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
Melbourne hasnt got there nyala yet and they have been on the map for months, they left the pygmy hippo exhibit where petra lived vacent even to this day, and there is a sign that say something exiting is coming soon i will probarly be a species they already have, it would be good if they got a female pygmy hippo but that ist going to happen they could move the peccaries into the vacent hippo exibit which they have done before, then they could get to the tapir soon
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Zoofan15 said:
I believe the Nyala have been held u by integration issues on the Savannah re. giraffe and zebra. Werribee are easily able to accomodate them for longer.

I’d like your idea of shifting the peccaries into that exhibit (or transferring them to a zoo that will breed them) and repurposing the space for tapir; but sadly I don’t believe imports are on the horizon for this species. It’s more likely Melbourne will acquire them once other facilities have imported and bred imo.

On a personal note, I wish Melbourne Zoo (and others zoos) would stop baiting their visitors with signs promising something exciting is coming. The “something exciting” has been an anticlimax every time.
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Melbourne putting them on their map though seems to indicate they were there, at least at one point in time. It might be likely that they were only there temporarily (last year), before being sent elsewhere. They've been on that map (near the railway station entrance) for a while now. You would think they would've sent the Nyala last year, before Iris arrived. They had plenty of time to do this.

The Pygmy Hippo enclosure is too small for their Peccaries. They only held a single individual (Pickles, I believe) for a few years following Petre's death. Felix was in that enclosure last year when they had renovations in his enclosure. It's also held Carp in the past too. I believe it'll likely sit empty until a female Pygmy hippo can be imported; and this may still be years away.

I agree with @Zoofan15 , I don't see Melbourne importing Brazilian Tapir themselves. Maybe once other zoos acquire and breed them, they might have initiative to acquire some. But for now, I don't see them dedicating a whole complex for them, let alone importing any.
 
Would a Malayan tapir not suit the soon to be vacated elephant barn at MZ if they wish to continue with that interesting species? And I could be wrong, but I believe there is enough empty space at growing Wild for a Brazilian Tapir and shared capybara exhibit
 
If Melbourne wants to keep malyan tapir than the elphant barn idea is by far the best, but if they want to keep Brazilian tapir and capybara why not cominbde them in the 3rd elephant exibit as this species of tapir doesn’t have issues with the sun
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
If Melbourne wants to keep malyan tapir than the elphant barn idea is by far the best, but if they want to keep Brazilian tapir and capybara why not cominbde them in the 3rd elephant exibit as this species of tapir doesn’t have issues with the sun
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I just figured having a capybara petting zoo near the children and introducing them to an animal as “funny looking” as the tapir would be quite beneficial
 
Wonder if DDZ will look to acquire more Brazilian Tapirs soon, and perhaps if Hunter Valley Zoo might also. Maybe if they and Adelaide Zoo look to bringing new individuals in then maybe other zoos like Melbourne will come on board. Might suit Taronga too with those two exhibits in their 'Rainforest Trail' (formerly 'Wild Asia') given that they were initially built for Berani & Denise the Malayan Tapirs; and that precinct of the zoo now holds non Asian species like Pygmy Hippo and Eastern Bongo who I assume will move to the 'Congo' precinct when it is finished (I'd just call it 'Tropical Africa' cos Pygmy Hippos are from Liberia).
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Would a Malayan tapir not suit the soon to be vacated elephant barn at MZ if they wish to continue with that interesting species? And I could be wrong, but I believe there is enough empty space at growing Wild for a Brazilian Tapir and shared capybara exhibit
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They would; but it would have to be one enclosure imo..

There's no empty space in growing wild for a mixed exhibit with Capybara too. There is the former Mara walkthrough, but that would only be able to hold a few Capybara at most.

steveroberts said:
Wonder if DDZ will look to acquire more Brazilian Tapirs soon, and perhaps if Hunter Valley Zoo might also. Maybe if they and Adelaide Zoo look to bringing new individuals in then maybe other zoos like Melbourne will come on board. Might suit Taronga too with those two exhibits in their 'Rainforest Trail' (formerly 'Wild Asia') given that they were initially built for Berani & Denise the Malayan Tapirs; and that precinct of the zoo now holds non Asian species like Pygmy Hippo and Eastern Bongo who I assume will move to the 'Congo' precinct when it is finished (I'd just call it 'Tropical Africa' cos Pygmy Hippos are from Liberia).
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I do hope DDZ and Adelaide will hopefully work together on a Brazilian Tapir import down the line. The two Pygmy hippo exhibits at Taronga you refer to though are too small for Brazilians. If they somehow use the current Bongo enclosure too (connected), I do think it could work though.

Also, I was told the Pygmy Hippos and Bongo would be staying in their current exhibits.
 
Jambo said:
They would; but it would have to be one enclosure imo..

There's no empty space in growing wild for a mixed exhibit with Capybara too. There is the former Mara walkthrough, but that would only be able to hold a few Capybara at most.



I do hope DDZ and Adelaide will hopefully work together on a Brazilian Tapir import down the line. The two Pygmy hippo exhibits at Taronga you refer to though are too small for Brazilians. If they somehow use the current Bongo enclosure too (connected), I do think it could work though.

Also, I was told the Pygmy Hippos and Bongo would be staying in their current exhibits.
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I meant with just empty space and unused enclosures like the coatis that could be repurposed
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I meant with just empty space and unused enclosures like the coatis that could be repurposed
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I would like to see something like that happen.

There is some space where the former Tamarin/Coati enclosures were, that would be ideal. Some of it is VERY forested too which would be perfect shade wise.
 
Jambo said:
I would like to see something like that happen.

There is some space where the former Tamarin/Coati enclosures were, that would be ideal. Some of it is VERY forested too which would be perfect shade wise.
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Whether MZ can actually be bothered is the question, but a mini South American precinct with monkeys, rodents, tapirs and even a coati reintroduction would be great. *maned wolf sadness continues*
 
Swanson02 said:
Adelaide Zoo confirmed that Jelita is their last remaining Malayan Tapir. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned
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Thanks, it was first mentioned in August 2022 but at that stage I think it was only an assumption Mia had died.

Hopefully their inclusion in the masterplan indicates an intention to import more long term. Melbourne Zoo apparently plan to and the Malayan tapir and Dusky langur are a great combination.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Thanks, it was first mentioned in August 2022 but at that stage I think it was only an assumption Mia had died.

Hopefully their inclusion in the masterplan indicates an intention to import more long term. Melbourne Zoo apparently plan to and the Malayan tapir and Dusky langur are a great combination.
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Seeing some calves in the future would be amazing. We all know how mesmerising their young is, and I know for a fact the average zoo goer would similarly appreciate it
 
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