CHESTER ZOO is celebrating the pitter-patter of tiny, spotty and stripy feet as a rare Malayan tapir has been born.
The female calf, who has been named Nessa, arrived to parents Margery (10) and Betong (10) in the early hours of Wednesday, November 30, weighing just 9kg.
Chester Zoo's new Malayan tapir.
It followed a 13-month-long pregnancy.
Chester Zoo is one of just two British zoos currently caring for the Malayan tapir. It’s a species listed as endangered on the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Red List of Threatened Species.
Fewer than 2,500 are estimated to remain across Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand and Myanmar, with hunting, illegal logging and mass deforestation blamed for a decline in numbers, which has seen more than half of the world’s Malayan tapirs lost in the last 40 years.
Chester Zoo's new Malayan tapir.
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