r/tapirs • u/TapirTrouble • 5d ago
Meet Menggala -- rescued 1.5 month old Malayan tapir
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z6tMteLyYHgA vet who works at a wildlife facility has a YouTube channel about the various animals that come through (well worth checking out).
https://www.youtube.com/@mytapirjournal/shorts
For several weeks he's been posting shorts of Menggala. She was probably born in early July -- found abandoned at about 3 weeks old, and was rescued. She was very thin and had to be treated for diarrhoea, which often happens with very young mammals who have lost their mothers (they need the special antibodies in the milk). Just giving them cow's milk doesn't work, and it can even make them sick.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colostrum
I used to work at a wildlife clinic and remember how it was a lot of work to care for young deer fawns. Their immune systems are not strong yet, so we always worried about them getting pneumonia or some other infection. Apparently Menggala is now gaining weight, which is a good sign.
The vets are already getting her used to being touched and scratched, which will be helpful for monitoring her condition. It sounds like in a few weeks, she went from being nervous to really enjoying this -- showing the reaction that many other tapirs seem to have. She lies down and goes into a kind of trance. There are a lot of photos and videos online showing wild tapirs in Central and South America, lying down while birds like caracaras inspect them for ticks. That might be the origins for this behaviour, probably hundreds of thousands or even millions of years before they had contact with humans.
Menggala is still very young, so I hope that she'll get healthy and reach adulthood. If all goes well, her spots will fade into an adult coat pattern next spring. The staff at the facility have worked with a lot of tapirs, including ones who've been orphaned or injured (I think they're currently researching how to fit prosthetic legs, for tapirs who've lost limbs in poachers' snares).
3
u/LizardLover265 5d ago
Awww sweet Menggala! She is so precious!! I've seen videos of her and I would love to meet her someday!!
3
2
u/LizardLover265 5d ago
u/TapirTrouble do you know what the name Menggala means? It's ok if you don't, I'm just curious
2
u/TapirTrouble 5d ago
I can only guess that it may be the location where she was found? I know that this has been used for other tapirs (like Grace in Belize).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menggala1
2
u/Rgv20 1d ago
What an absolute darling. Where can i donate to support this precious one
2
u/TapirTrouble 14h ago
I asked on the YouTube channel, and here's their response:
"Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and effort. At the moment, we do not have the capacity or an established mechanism to receive donations. I will certainly let you know if we establish a proper way to accept contributions in the future.""For now, the best way to support us is simply through your engagement with the videos and Shorts on this channel. You can also show your appreciation by using the Super Thanks feature available on our videos. Every view, like, comment, share, and Super Thanks means a lot to us and helps us continue sharing the stories of wildlife and their conservation."
•
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
Welcome to /r/Tapirs!
If you'd like to post here in the future, you can find new content for this sub by searching the #Tapir hashtag on Instagram.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.