She’s as sweet as tupelo honey

Rare baby tapir thrills zoo staff at Franklin Park

By Stefanie Geisler – The Boston Globe

Life just got a little sweeter at the Franklin Park Zoo.

On Dec. 5, the staff welcomed a baby Baird’s tapir to the zoo family. The female is called Tupelo, named for the high-end honey made from tupelo tree flowers because of her “sweet’’ personality.

“The zookeepers came up with that name,’’ said John Linehan, Zoo New England president and chief executive officer. “We were very excited to have her and she was very sweet, so that’s how they came up with the name.’’

Tupelo weighed in at 21 pounds.

Her 5-year-old mother, Abby, weighs just over 700 pounds, while her 20-year-old father, Milton, weighs 400.

Still sporting the white stripes that will fade in a few months, the baby Baird tapir born Dec. 5 has been named Tupelo by Franklin Park Zoo staff. Tapirs are related to horses and rhinos. (Franklin Park Zoo)

The gestation period for a Baird’s tapir is about 13 months.

“You don’t have baby tapirs very often,’’ Linehan said. “They just don’t produce a lot of babies. So when you get one, it’s a very exciting event.’’

Linehan added that the birth of a female tapir is particularly significant.

“Right now, the captive population is skewed very heavily toward males, and there’s a great need for females out there,’’ Linehan said. “There are only 20 or 22 males in captivity in North America, and 10 or 12 females. So there’s a great need for females to balance this population, and to make sure we continue having a growing population in captivity.’’

Baird’s tapirs, which are related to horses and rhinos, are the largest land mammals in Latin America. They are born with white stripes that fade after five or six months.

The animals are endangered because of deforestation and hunting.

Baby animals are not a rare event at the zoo, “but because tapirs reproduce so slowly, everybody is really thrilled with this one,’’ Linehan said. “Even the old hands can’t help but use the word cute.’’

Tupelo is expected to make her debut in the zoo’s Tropical Forest in a few weeks.

Similar Posts:

• Newborn Malayan tapir on display at zoo in Tokyo
• Zoo shows off latest rare birth
• Rare tapir calf makes debut at Cambridgeshire zoo
• It’s A boy! Tupelo Zoo welcomes new monkey
• Zoo wants you to help name its littlest lemur