In the late 1970's when China sent giant pandas to Chapultepec zoo in mexico city, the chinese government asked for baird´s tapirs in return. But chapultepec does not breed this species, so the animals were sent from the Zoomat collection in Chiapas, which is in the species natural range and has bred many tapirs. I do not know if the beijing zoo recieved other tapirs since then. It is interesting that both the pandas and the tapirs did very well at their new homes.
So if these animals are unrelated to the ones currently in European and American zoos, that must be good for the genetic diversity of the captive population. Thanks for this information.
