Malayan Tapir: The Forgotten Recluse

-by Raymond Tan
Pandas have received significant spotlight ever since their introduction as an endangered species. These cute, furry creatures with black and white hue, thanks to the public awareness about their growing scarcity, are now under close supervision and care, thus lowering their risk of extinction.

There exists a similar creature like them in the same continent. These creatures are black and white colored. These creatures are adorable. These creatures are also endangered as well. However, the difference is, the ordeal suffered by these creatures is often shrouded by a cloud of mystery. As their popularity pales in comparison to pandas, the creatures continue to live in recluse, void of their deserved attention. These creatures have an exotic name-Tapir;the exoticness of their name, is a perfect testament to their uniqueness.

There are four types of tapir namingly Baird's Tapir, Malayan Tapir, Brazilian Tapir and Mountain Tapir. Virtually every species of the Tapir is classified under the endangered category. Of all, the breed that is most abundant in the Asian region is the Malayan Tapir.

Malayan Tapirs grow between 1.8 to 2.4 m in length, with an average height of 90 to 107 cm, and average weight of 250 to 320 kg. They have gender-specific characteristics, whereby the size of female Malayan Tapirs are much larger. Common characteristics among Tapirs can also be observed such as small stubby tails and long, flexible proboscises. The Malayan Tapir has poor eyesight but this is compensated by having a good hearing and smell.

Why Malayan Tapirs are pushed to the brink of extinction? This can be attributed to the diet of these Tapirs and the human activities that disrupted their food chain. Contrary to their exotic and peculiar looks, Malayan Tapirs are quite tame and they are strictly vegetarian. Grass, leaves, fruits, vegetables are the primary source of nutrition that these creatures consume.

With extensive logging, some legal and some illegal, thousands of acres of forests have been chopped down, depriving these pitiful species of any food source. Some of them may choose to migrate, but some unlucky ones will be shot by explorers on sight due to the misunderstandings about these animal's nature. As the mortality rate is kept higher than the birth rate of these Malayan Tapirs, it is not hard to conceive why their numbers are decreasing year by year.

According to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, over the last 36 years, Malayan Tapirs have been on the decline and it is thought that this reduction is probably proportional to the reduction of the tropical rainforest area in southeast Asia over the same period. It is difficult to estimate how much of suitable tapir habitat has actually disappeared over that period. In Sumatra more than 50% is thought to have been lost, with much of the remaining forest outside the tapir's range. Less than 10% of the suitable habitat has been preserved, and much of that is degraded (Van Strien pers. comm., 2001). In Malaysia, situation are much better.

Malayan Tapirs once roamed the forests, but now has been either driven away to the pathway of death. If people continue to be oblivious about their situation, perhaps in the next 30 years, we could no longer see these wonderful creatures gracing the forest paths. Their delicate footsteps, will be replaced by prints of the cold, metal bulldozers. Their call, will be replaced by honks of automobiles.