Endangered species expects second baby at Point Defiance Zoo

Staff at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium are getting ready for a new baby. Yuna, a 9-year-old Malayan tapir, is pregnant.

Tapirs, according to the Tapir Specialist Group, are rare mammals that are often confused with anteaters but are more closely related to rhinos and horses.

The group calls tapirs “living fossils” as they survived waves of extinctions. However, tapirs are facing one of the hardest waves now. The Tapir Specialist Group states the animals are hunted for their meat and their habitats are shrinking due to road construction, farming and illegal logging.

Tapirs are native to Southeast Asia where much of rainforest destruction is to make room for palm oil plantations, according to Point Defiance Zoo. But in Tacoma, hope for the species’ survival is blossoming inside Yuna who is 10 to 12 months pregnant, as reported in a news release from the zoo on Friday.

The zoo said the gestation period for tapirs is 13 to 14 months long and calves weigh around 22 pounds at birth.

Yuna is being well taken care of, according to the release, as she receives pedicures and massages along with extensive care. The backrubs help her feel at ease during her monthly ultrasound.

“Not only does Yuna appear to enjoy the massage, but it allows the keeper and veterinary teams to do additional health checks on both Yuna and, eventually, the calf,” Curator Telena Welsh said in the release. “With the added weight of pregnancy, staff are paying special attention to her mobility and feet, often giving additional pedicures to keep them healthy.”

The staff said they trained Yuna to remain calm and still during the wellness exam.

Point Defiance Zoo sent MyNorthwest this video of Yuna the tapir during one of her monthly ultrasounds. She gets extra head scratches to help her feel comfortable 🤗

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Yuna also gets a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, specially formulated grain, hay and browse. Adult female tapirs can grow up to 1,000 pounds and males up to 800 pounds. Yuna weighed 846 pounds at her last weigh-in.

Baku is the father of Yuna’s baby. The two were paired together through a recommendation by the Species Survival Plan, according to the zoo. The baby will be the pair’s second calf and also the second calf in the zoo’s 119-year history.

The zoo said tapir calves are compared to watermelons in the first several months of their life, as they are a distinct blackish-brown color with white stripes and spots on their bodies. The splotches help them stay camouflaged in the wild.

In August, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle shut down its tapir exhibit while it works to make upgrades to improve the animals’ welfare and create a better visitor experience, as reported by KIRO 7. Sadly, it said goodbye to 12-year-old Malayan tapir Ulan who moved to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Her calf, Sempurna moved to a Calgary Zoo.

But, locals can see tapirs, including Yuna’s growing baby bump, in the Asian Forest Sanctuary habitats at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma.

To keep the tapir population growing, the zoo encourages people to check their products for sustainable palm oil and urges companies to make the switch to become sustainable.

Contributing: KIRO 7

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.