Have you ever wondered why our zoo has certain animals? Zoos have collection plans which guide their acquisitions, dispositions and reproduction of animals.

Species are selected based on a variety of criteria, some of which are: availability in zoos, the reason for keeping the animal in captivity (conservation, education, etc.), status in the wild, and whether or not a particular zoo can give them proper care. Collection plans are fluid documents that change as circumstances change.

Here's an example of how and why things can change over time.

Tapirs have been exhibited at Lee Richardson Zoo for more than 20 years. When visitors view a tapir, they often think they're looking at the relative of a pig or an anteater, but actually tapirs are more closely related to the rhinoceros and horse. There are four types of tapirs (Baird's, Brazilian, Mountain and Malayan). Lee Richardson Zoo has exhibited both Brazilian and Baird's over the years.

Baird's tapirs are an endangered species. In 2000, Lee Richardson Zoo had a breeding pair in the collection. The pair produced a male offspring in January 2002. This healthy baby boy, like all newborn tapirs, had a combination of stripes and spots on him that made him resemble a watermelon with legs.

At about eight months of age, the youngster loses the markings and becomes a solid dark brown or reddish-black. The family unit got along well for a number of months, but both parents finally decided it was time for the young male to move along.

While tapirs are a popular zoo animal and often are easy to place in other zoos, at this time there were no other facilities looking for a male. The young male was moved to another barn on zoo grounds while awaiting the identification of another zoo that would provide him with a new home.

Due to the difficulty in placing this male, and what could be called a "full house" of tapirs in AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) accredited zoos, our female was given a yearly contraceptive which would prevent her from becoming pregnant. As the story sometimes goes with forms of anything but permanent contraception, there was a failure and mom and dad tapir produced another offspring in March 2004. This time it was a girl.

In the case of the second birth, there was another zoo clamoring for the young female. At this time the sex ratio of tapirs in AZA zoos was almost two males to every female, so it was easy to place the new female. So, the little girl moves to her new home when she's old enough, but what about a new home for her older sibling? Where would his new home be?

As it turns out, a zoo in Mexico was building a new facility and needed a tapir. So, in 2005, after facility inspections, permits and much red tape, our young male packed his bags and moved to Parque Zoologico De Leon.

Now, believe it or not, even after having two offspring, the Baird's tapirs at Lee Richardson Zoo were still genetically valuable and we received a breeding recommendation from the AZA's Tapir SSP (Species Survival Plan) committee. This is a cooperative committee made up of representatives from AZA zoos that work with tapirs. Yearly they issue recommendations for moving and breeding tapirs with the goal of a healthy and self-sustaining captive population of tapirs.

This recommendation presented us with a bit of a dilemma. Do we breed again and risk having another male that we have to house for who knows how long? Or do we change our focus at least for a while and only exhibit tapirs (don't breed them) until we have more room? After much deliberation, our female tapir was sent in 2006 to another zoo with another male where it was hoped that she would produce more offspring. Our male stayed here to educate visitors about tapirs.

At the same time, staff members began making plans for a new barn that would allow us to once again breed tapirs without space being a limiting issue.

As we made plans for the new SAP (South American Pampas) barn, we also reviewed our collection plan, the regional collection plan issued by AZA Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) and husbandry manuals of the various species. We found that the situation with Baird's tapirs hadn't changed. There still are two males for every one female. There simply aren't any female tapirs available out there that we could bring to Lee Richardson Zoo. We could consider importation, but that often takes years and more than a few dollars. There also is no place to send our current male tapir if we were to decide to remove tapirs from the collection and go with another species.

This presents us with an opportunity (or problem, depending on how you want to look at it).

Was there a species out there that we could bring into the zoo collection and mix in the exhibit with the tapir and the rhea?

What other South American animals with important conservation messages, or who were in need of field or captive conservation work, could we bring to Lee Richardson Zoo? Stay tuned to future articles and press releases for the answer to these questions.

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