Baby tapirs look nothing like adult tapirs
If anything, they look like tiny, brown watermelons.
When you think of a newborn, you tend to think of the smaller and cuter versions of the adult. You pretty much know from first glance that it’s a baby animal.
But in the case of the tapir, it’s not that straight forward.
Tapirs are a large herbivorous mammal found in the jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, and Southeast Asia. For those who have never seen or heard of them before, they’re like a crossbreed between an elephant and a pig. They have the body shape similar to a pig, and a short, prehensile nose trunk like an elephant.
There are four different tapir species: the Baird’s tapir, the Brazilian tapir, the mountain tapir and the Malayan tapir. While they all look pretty different (especially the Malayan tapir), it’s not just their unusual appearances that makes them look so striking.
What makes them stand out is their young. Their young look so different from the adults, that it wouldn’t surprise me if people thought they were different animals.
When a baby tapir is born, they weight about 5-10 kg or 11-22 lb. Regardless of the tapir species, baby tapirs are born with reddish-brown fur with cream or white-coloured stripes and spots. They pretty much look like a dark-coloured watermelon with legs.
These markings are not just for show; they serve a crucial purpose in camouflaging the babies against predators in the wild.
The stripes and spots help the young tapirs blend into the dappled light of the forest floor, providing camouflage from predators. This pattern mimics the play of light through leaves and shadows, making it difficult for predators to spot them.
And given how infrequently tapirs reproduce, it’s especially important that the young survive.
Tapirs reach sexual maturity between three to five years. If the conditions are good, a female tapir can reproduce every two years. When the female tapirs do reproduce, they generally only have one offspring after a gestation period of 13 months (that’s four months longer than ours!).
So, given the amount of time and energy into making an offspring, it’s no surprise how important a baby tapir’s survival is.
As cool as their markings are, their markings don’t last forever. The stripes and spots on the baby tapir gradually fade and within five to six months, they’ll be completely gone.
By the time a tapir reaches adulthood, its physical appearance has completely changed.
As adults, they have a coat that is now a solid colour. Their coat colour varies between species, but is generally dark brown, grey or black. The exception is the Malayan tapir, which has a distinctive black and white pattern.
And of course, a part of growing up means getting bigger and heavier. Adult tapirs are significantly larger, weighing between 150 to 300 kg or 330-660 lb, depending on the species.
I guess you can say a tapir changing coats is their version of going through puberty. With the added bonus of getting significantly larger of course.