The Palm Beach Zoo announced that it has a new addition to the family: an endangered Baird’s tapir.
The calf, whose gender and name have not yet been revealed, weighed a whopping 21 pounds at birth on Jan. 20. The proud parents are named Spencer and Alyssa.
Tapirs are native to Central and Northern South America, and for the first week of their lives they hide in seclusion with their mothers as she forages for food, according to the zoo. Baird’s tapirs are considered vulnerable and are in danger of going extinct, so the arrival of the new baby is especially exciting for the zoo.
The Palm Beach Zoo got its start as the Dreher Park Farm Zoo in the 1960s, and since then has grown to more than 500 animals and a mission of conservancy. More than 300,000 visits come to the zoo every year.
Zoo officials say that their will announce the name and gender of the tapir soon, so stay tuned.
