Tapirs, as ungulates of the cloven hoofed variety, don't like walking in mud, which gets stuck between their toes and is very uncomfortable, so i think they probably were complaining.
Tapirs, as ungulates of the cloven hoofed variety, don't like walking in mud, which gets stuck between their toes and is very uncomfortable, so i think they probably were complaining.
Cloven hoofed animals, aka artiodactyls, have two toes on each foot. Tapir are perissodactyls and have 4 toes on their front feet and three toes on their back.
And they do very much like mud. I've had tapirs make their own mud to wallow in. It drove me nuts.
In that case, sorry for the misinformation. I was told by a member of staff at the dartmoor zoo that their enclosure was enlarged as the original part was a mud-hole and the tapir hated it because the mud got stuck between his toes. Apparently this is wrong.
That was at dartmoor, although apparently they think their tapir is gay! Presumably the dartmoor tapir dislikes mud but he is, as you say, an exception to the rule. I don't know what the twycross tapirs think of it.
I think Tapirs, pigs, Rhinos like the CHOICE of dry ground or mud/water. Not surprising if a tapir forced to live in a mainly muddy paddock shows a preference for getting away from it onto dry ground, or a Tapir that lives in a totally dry paddock enjoys a newly created mudhole.
This Twycross paddock (like others I've seen) seems to be all mud in winter- but it is baked dry in summer. The Tapirs are more often to be found in the indoor house asleep in the clean dry straw bedding.
This isn't even really the tapir enclosure at all. Right at the back is where you can see the green fence with the pool, and then to the right of that there is the field part with all the trees etc. the mud on this photo is the land in-front of the pooled area which is grassed normally for the visitors to use
You are right. However I'm not sure this area hasn't now been incorporated for the Tapirs- doesn't it have the stockade type fencing round it now? BTW I have not seen a Twycross Tapir in any enclosure except the one bordering the entrance driveway, for some time now.
Yeah part of it is a walkway down to the tapirs and then round to the old gorilla house where the chimps are. Erm, Madge I think it is has access to the main grass paddock which is where you come in when you drive in, and also at the back of this photo she can get to as well where the pool bit is.
