Page 6 - Gateways 2018 Spring

News Bites

The latest noteworthy news from
around Brookfield Zoo and beyond
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LOWLAND TAPIRS

ARRIVAL We’ve Got Two, Babe The International Union for Conservation of Nature—
the world’s largest network of environmental scientists—
Brookfield Zoo and tapirs are two things that just seem classifies lowland tapirs as “vulnerable,” meaning
to go together. they are likely to become endangered unless their
circumstances in the wild improve. Their population has
Since 1934, the year it opened its doors to the public, declined significantly during the past three decades, in
the zoo has almost always been home to at least one large part due to habitat loss and illegal hunting.
tapir. But our last lowland tapir passed away in 2016. That
gap was filled in November when we welcomed Sonny Sonny and Cher are a breeding pair, which Brookfield
and Cher. Zoo has not had in many years. These two newbies have
spent the past few months indoors, getting acclimated
Sonny is a 2-year-old male and Cher is a 11/2-year-old to their new home, but plans are to place them in the
female. Both are lowland tapirs, and they came from outdoor habitat in Pachyderms this spring, so they could
the Center for the Conservation of Tropical Ungulates potentially breed as soon as this summer.
in Florida, an organization dedicated to increasing
populations of rare and endangered species through
reproductive science. (The word ungulate means
“having hooves,” and this group includes a wide range
of animals, such as deer, horses, rhinos, hippos, camels,
and pigs.)

6 GATEWAYS | NEWS BITES