PETALING JAYA, April 30 — Barely two months after the joyful announcement of its birth at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo, Megat, a rare Malayan tapir born was announced as having died after a “short illness”.
In a tweet posted by the zoo’s official account yesterday, Megat, who was then hailed as “the latest chapter in the charity’s success story with this endangered species,” was announced as having died last Saturday.
We’re very sad to announce the loss of Megat, our Malayan tapir calf. Already a favourite with our staff, members and visitors after being born earlier this year, Megat passed away on Saturday after a short illness. pic.twitter.com/gzMaadODHQ
Advertisement— Edinburgh Zoo (@EdinburghZoo) April 29, 2019
Born on January 31, Megat was the eighth calf to be welcomed at the zoo since 2007.
Edinburgh Zoo hoofstock team leader Jonny Appleyard had then said, “Malayan tapir populations in the wild are continuing to decline, so all births are incredibly valuable to the breeding programme and we’re really excited about our latest arrival.”
Born to its mother, Sayang, Megat, was later christened following a public vote from a shortlist of names by the zoo’s patrons.
No specific reason was stated for the devastating death as dozens of replies slowly poured in via Twitter.
The Edinburgh Zoo currently has two adult Malayan tapirs in Mogli, born in 2009 from the Dortmund Zoo, and Sayang, born in 2003 from the London Zoo.
Sayang has given birth to four calves with a previous male, Ka, in males Vasan and Kamal, and two females in Indah and Nadira with another two male calves in Mekong and Baku with Mogli.
Introducing Megat! 😍🥰
— Edinburgh Zoo (@EdinburghZoo) February 13, 2019
We were blown away by the response to our public vote to name our newborn Malayan tapir. With almost 9,000 people getting involved, including tremendous interest from the species native Malaysia, Magat stormed to victory with an impressive 4,263 votes! pic.twitter.com/E8ACzTDvrJ
All of the calves have since gone on to other collections to play a part in the breeding programme.