HOUSTON – A baby tapir was born Monday at the Houston Zoo.
The female Baird’s tapir weighs 22 pounds, and when she’s full-grown, zoo experts anticipate she could weigh more than 550 pounds.
The zoo says the newborn is the second Baird’s tapir born at the Houston Zoo, and second baby for mother Moli and father Noah. Their first baby, Antonio, was born in Feb. 2017 and still lives at the zoo.
While she doesn’t have a name yet, the keepers who care for the tapir family will have the honor of naming her, the zoo says.
The baby tapir seen at the Houston Zoo in March 2019.
Baird’s tapirs are born with a colorful pattern of stripes and spots that will disappear as they grow older, the zoo says. There are four species of tapir, three in South America and one in Malaysia. In South America where Baird’s tapirs are found, tapirs are the largest land mammal and live throughout the marsh and swamps from Mexico to Western Brazil and Ecuador.