Rotterdam Zoo's adult all-black Malayan tapir
Largest of today's living tapir species, and the only one that is native to the Old World,
the Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus is further distinguished by its
striking 'saddle' of white, encompassing much of its torso and haunches.
A typical, white-saddled specimen of the Malayan tapir (Ltshears/Wikipedia)
In total contrast, its
four New World relatives are all uniformly dark. Naturally, therefore,
zoologists were nonplussed when one of the adult Malayan tapirs sent to
Rotterdam Zoo in spring 1924 from Sumatra proved to be entirely black, with no
saddle.
According to a subsequent paper concerning this singular animal
by Dr K. Kuiper of Rotterdam Zoo (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
London, July 1926), there were no previous records of all-black Malayan
tapirs, and not even Captain K. Brevet (of the Royal Dutch-Indian Army), from
whom the tapirs had been received, had ever heard tell of such creatures
before. Notwithstanding this, the Rotterdam specimen, a male, confirmed that at
least one could (and did) exist. Moreover, when, just a few months later,
Brevet sent two juvenile Malayan tapirs to the zoo, one of these matured into a
second all-black individual (except for a small grey stripe on the median line
of its belly).
Rotterdam Zoo's second all-black Malayan tapir
Yet although they were evidently Malayan tapirs, what was their
precise identity, taxonomically speaking? Both specimens had been captured
within the Babat district in the low-lying plains of Palembang, a southern district
on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where the familiar white-saddled form also exists - thereby eliminating any
possibility that they constituted a morphologically-distinctive geographical
subspecies. And as these two mystifying individuals were both from this same
region, with no reports of any all-black tapirs elsewhere, Kuiper also deemed
it unlikely that they were merely the product of a simple genetic mutation -
i.e. a melanistic (all-black) morph that could appear anywhere and at any time
within any population of white-saddled specimens (like black panthers within
populations of spotted leopards).
Accordingly, Kuiper looked upon them as representatives of a
newly-emerging variety, not replacing the white-saddled version in any specific
area (and hence not a subspecies), but nonetheless possessing a specific
geographical distribution. In July 1926, within his PZSL paper, he
formally christened his newly-categorised variety Tapirus indicus var. brevetianus,
in honour of its discoverer.
Another specimen of the normal, white-saddled version of Malayan tapir (Jeffery J. Nichols/Wikipedia)
I brought to a close a short, previous item documenting the
above history of Brevet’s black Malayan tapir (within my book Mysteries of Planet Earth, 1999) by stating:
However, it now
seems much more plausible that this all-black form was nothing more than a
melanistic mutant after all, because no further brevetianus specimens
have ever been documented. And both of the Rotterdam individuals died before
any matings with white-backed specimens could take place - thereby denying
science the opportunity of investigating the genetic basis of their uniformly
dark colouration. Even so, their preserved remains at the Leiden Museum of
Natural History bear silent witness to their erstwhile existence, and to the
tantalising prospect that at some stage in the future, their kind will reappear,
reviving the brevetianus zoogeographical paradox - the presence of
all-black tapirs in the Old World.
And indeed, after
almost 80 years, that hypothetical stage in the future finally became the very
real present, when in 2000-2001, as subsequently documented by J. Mohammed Azlan of
WWF Malaysia (Tapir Conservation, vol. 11, no. 1, June 2002), two
separate all-black Malayan tapir sightings were recorded within Jerangau Forest
Reserve, in Ulu Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. The first sighting took place
on 9 July 2000 at 7.44 pm, when a motion-sensitive infra-red camera set up in
lowland forest to monitor tigers obtained a clear photograph of a tapir that
was wholly black, with no white saddle marking whatsoever. The second sighting,
again the result of triggering an infra-red camera but this time set up in hill
forest, snapped an all-black tapir at 1.13 am on 20 July 2001.
One of two photographs of a Brevet's black Malayan tapir snapped in the wild just over a decade ago (J. Mohammed Azlan)
On 20 and 30 May 2016, moreover, during the First National Tiger Survey Program 2016-2020 embarked upon by Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Park (DWNP), an adult male melanistic tapir was photographed using a passive digital infrared camera trap in Tekai Tembeling Forest Reserve, located in the central Peninsular Malaysian state of Pahang.
The above-listed images are currently the only photos obtained in the wild of specimens of
Brevet’s black Malayan tapir. (In fact, it might even be that both of the 2000-2001 photos are of the same
single animal, which may simply have moved from low forest into hill forest
during the intervening year between the snapping of the two photos.) Also, according to various online coverages for the Malayan tapir, in September 2003
Canadian researcher William Sommers witnessed the live birth of an all-black
Malayan tapir in the wild. If correct, this is particularly intriguing, because
tapirs of all species are normally born striped, only losing their markings as
they mature (as was the case with the second all-black Malayan tapir at
Rotterdam Zoo).
A typical, striped juvenile specimen of Malayan tapir (Sasha Kopf/Wikipedia)
In any event, these 21st-Century photos snapepd in the wild provide conclusive evidence that Brevet’s all-but-forgotten
melanistic mystery beast still exists - albeit most probably as an exceedingly
rare mutant limited to a couple or so individuals in every generation. And its unexpected
appearance in Malaysia, greatly expanding this form’s known distribution,
substantiates my belief that it is indeed a mutant morph capable of appearing
anywhere within the total Malayan tapir population. Benefiting from modern-day
advances in DNA analyses, and with at least one contemporary specimen in existence,
it would be fascinating to investigate the genetic make-up of Brevet’s black
Malayan tapir, and finally establish after many decades of scientific obscurity the
true identity of this enigmatic creature.
Incidentally, in the belief that such a creature would prove
exceedingly popular as a pet in the USA, biological engineers have recently
attempted to create a dwarf version of the Malayan tapir – but that, as they
say, is another story...
Hand-coloured engraving of a normal Malayan tapir, c.1840
I'd buy a pet tapir. Maybe…
ReplyDeleteThey just look so cuddly!
http://news.sky.com/story/1126535/tapir-attack-toddler-mauled-during-zoo-visit
Delete;)
But, yeah, they're cute. Especially the babies.
Sorry, I put up a link to that story then flippantly followed it with a winking smiley specifically because it was a response to The Thinker's comment, not because of a casual disregard for the welfare of those involved. It was thoughtless of me. A small child and her mother sustained serious injuries.:( Apologies!
DeleteSpeaking of tapir, I am looking forward to hearing more about tapirus bairdii dowii, seems like it deserves to be elevated to the species level.
ReplyDelete