Port Lympne Wild Animal Park Malayan tapirs at Port Lympne Zoo

BjoernN

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Leipzig Zoo, Germany, received a male malayan tapir from Port Lympne three weeks ago. His name is 'Kopash'.

Does anyone have further information on his date of birth, his parents etc.??
 
Hi. He was born in January 2008 at Port Lympne. His mum is called Lidana, and the dad was a male that has since died named Kasih?. According to an old report on the PL website his name is actually spelt Copasih.
 
I have a feeling the male who died was one of the 2.2 animals imported from Indonesia some years ago to form the nucleus of the current breeding group. I have a feeling this was around 1990. The parks already had one or two Malayan tapirs at that point, possibly at Howletts or in the old orchard paddock at PL, but the 2.2 I think moved into the Sumatran rhino house or were quarantined in there and then stayed in the complex.

It would explain why the London-born male arrived at PL recently. I hope he turns out to be as prolific as the previous calf from London, who is the resident female at Edinburgh.
 
Do these tapirs carry the mysterious virus that Twycross' tapir may / may not have?
 
A 9th Malayan tapir has been born at the park, his name is "Kejutan" and he was born 5 weeks ago.

Gorgeous baby tapir makes first public debut at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent - AOL Travel UK

I was actually at Port Lympne when the photographer was taking these pics with the baby and apparently, in a few weeks, a 10th baby should be born.

Do these tapirs carry the mysterious virus that Twycross' tapir may / may not have?

Currently there are no signs that any of the 7 tapirs carry the virus.
 
Lidana died March 6th, 2009. Tengui (born February 22nd, 2006) had no offspring until now.
 
I believe the current tapirs at Port Lympne to be Hunter (M), Kingut (M), Laedang (F), Malacca (F), Tengui (F), and the baby, Kejutan (M). I may be wrong (or ISIS might be wrong) in that I believe a fourth female, Istana, to have been at the park until at least late 2010....ISIS listed 2.3 prior to the birth, so either she has departed/died, or one of the other females has.

M - Hunter - born ZSL 2009 - arrived at PL early 2011.
M - Kingut - born in Indonesia (wild-caught?) approx 1991, arrived 1992 (with another 1.2 animals, he is the elderly survivor of this group). Spent time at Howletts and was loaned to the RSCC until about 2009. Has never bred and had problems with his back legs since first arriving at PL 20 years ago.
M - Kejutan - I don't know who the mother is (some press reports state Lidana is the mother, but I think she died in 2009), but the father is almost certainly Hunter.

F Laedang - Born 1998 to Lidana/Daeng.
- produced a male calf - Kopash/Kopasi by Kasih (Kasih died 2008) who went to Leipzig in 2010
F Malacca/Mulka - born 2000 to Lidana and Daeng (I'm not 100% on this though)
F Tengui - the last of Lidana's and Daeng's calves, born PL 2006
F - Istana - 5 years old, unsure of birthplace, I don't think she was born at PL because she has been run with Daeng in the past.

Daeng and Lidana were the pair responsible for the majority of PL's breeding success with this species (they produced 3.3 calves). As mentioned by other posters, Lidana died a couple of years ago, and I believe Daeng was sent to Madrid perhaps last year. The other three births, making a total of nine (Kejutan being the 9th), were Lidana herself, in 1988, the first successful birth at PL, and Kopash, born to Lidaeng in 2008.

For the discussions that contributed to some of the above information (particularly from Bele), see the first two pages of the linked thread below:
http://www.zoochat.com/38/port-lympne-2011-a-201917/

I believe the new birth at PL to be Hunter's first offspring. I have to say, both the London-born calves (although born to different mothers) may prove to be very prolific. If it is true that a second baby is on the way at Port Lympne, then Hunter will have fathered two calves having arrived less than a year ago. The previous (2003) calf born at London (Sayan) has produced calves regularly at Edinburgh since she moved there (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011). I believe Hunter was born to Belfast-born 'Gerty', at London.

I would make the assumption that any viral infections spoken of on this site at London/Twycross were either different types of virus or was contained in the adult male at London and not passed onto the female or the last calf (Hunter), otherwise I highly doubt he would have been transferred to Port Lympne.
 
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PL have confirmed the mother of the last calf as Lidaeng (I incorrectly spelled her name as Laedang in the previous post). She is the only female at the park I believe to have bred previously, in 2008. That said, she was ten years old before rearing her first successful calf so its not indication necessarily that the other females won't or can't breed. Someone on here did mention that two females couldn't breed, so I guess its possible that Lidaeng and Tengui are the only possibilities for breeding with Hunter at present.
 
hi my name is carl parker and i am the deputy head off hoofstock at portlympne zoo i am all so the tapir keeper and have worked with them for 10 years so if can help anyone plz post are email me :)
 
Thank You is he the only breeding male ??

GB

Port Lympne have four males, two adult and two young calves. The eldest male is Kingut, who is believed to be imported from Indonesia. The other male is Hunter, who is the only breeding male as he is the only male given access to the females. The two calves are Manado born in January and Kejutan born in September.

There is currently four females, Istana, Lidaeng, Malacca and Tengui. I think that there all half or full sisters but I'm not a 100%, I do know however that Lidaeng, Malacca and Tengui are all Lidana X Kasih.
 
Port Lympne have four males, two adult and two young calves. The eldest male is Kingut, who is believed to be imported from Indonesia. The other male is Hunter, who is the only breeding male as he is the only male given access to the females. The two calves are Manado born in January and Kejutan born in September.

There is currently four females, Istana, Lidaeng, Malacca and Tengui. I think that there all half or full sisters but I'm not a 100%, I do know however that Lidaeng, Malacca and Tengui are all Lidana X Kasih.

I don't think any of the females were fathered by Kasih, but by Daeng, who now resides in Madrid. I think Kasih died in 2008, shortly afterwards a male calf, Kopash/Kopasi, sired by Kasih, was born to Lidaeng. This male calf moved on I think the next year. I believe Kingut is given access to females, in fact he was loaned to the RSCC when it opened along with Malacca.
 
hi my name is carl parker and i am the deputy head off hoofstock at portlympne zoo i am all so the tapir keeper and have worked with them for 10 years so if can help anyone plz post are email me :)

Hi Carl,

you are very lucky, what a wonderful facility to work in for Malayan tapirs. Your team's work has clearly achieved great things. Did you get to work there when Torgamba was still at the park? I remember towards the end of his stay, he was mixed with the Malayan tapirs. It was an amazing sight.

Can I ask:

(1) who are the female tapirs you have currently?

(2) Is Istana still there?

(3) Was Istana born at PL or brought in from another zoo?

(4) How many calves are there currently? Someone else on here has mentioned there are two males, is this still the case?

(5) I know Lidaeng is the mother of the eldest calf, who is the other mother?

(6) Are any of the females unable to breed?

(7) Are there plans for a second male after Kingut passes (hopefully not for a long time), or will you just stay with Hunter?

(8) The tapirs clearly benefit from free contact at PL, but I know most zoos won't allow keepers to go in with this species. Has this protocol remained with Hunter since arriving from ZSL, or are you able to work with him in free contact?

thank you in advance.
 
Hi Carl,

you are very lucky, what a wonderful facility to work in for Malayan tapirs. Your team's work has clearly achieved great things. Did you get to work there when Torgamba was still at the park? I remember towards the end of his stay, he was mixed with the Malayan tapirs. It was an amazing sight.

Can I ask:

(1) who are the female tapirs you have currently?

(2) Is Istana still there?

(3) Was Istana born at PL or brought in from another zoo?

(4) How many calves are there currently? Someone else on here has mentioned there are two males, is this still the case?

(5) I know Lidaeng is the mother of the eldest calf, who is the other mother?

(6) Are any of the females unable to breed?

(7) Are there plans for a second male after Kingut passes (hopefully not for a long time), or will you just stay with Hunter?

(8) The tapirs clearly benefit from free contact at PL, but I know most zoos won't allow keepers to go in with this species. Has this protocol remained with Hunter since arriving from ZSL, or are you able to work with him in free contact?

thank you in advance.

Current females are;

Istana, Lidaeng, Malacca and Tengui. Istana is still at PL, she was born in 1996. I believe she was born at PL to Lidana and Daeng my apologies.

Malacca is the mother of the other calf, Manado. There are two calves, Hunter is believed to be mixed in the next few months or is mixed with Tengui.
 
This must be Malacca's first calf? That's a really good sign, until now of the current females, only Lidaeng has bred AFAIK.
 
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