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"Marima" was born at Schmidung Zoo.(Bild: Zoo Schmiding / Peter Sterns)

So small and so cute! Schmiding Zoo (Upper Austria) is delighted to welcome a very special offspring. Baby tapir "Merima" was born last Friday and has been delighting zookeepers and visitors alike ever since.

With stripes, spots and dots, baby tapir Merima enchants visitors to Schmiding Zoo. Mummy Donna Lucia gave birth to her second cub last Friday after a gestation period of around 13 months. "She carefully licked her newborn dry and immediately lay down to suckle", reported zookeeper Can Hasibe in a press release on Monday. The tapir girl and her mother are still in the indoor area, but can be observed through a viewing window.

Fur color as camouflage
The special fur color serves as camouflage for the young animal - lowland tapirs are forest dwellers - because the babies do not follow their mother everywhere in the first few days. At two to three weeks of age, Merima will start to eat solid food, but will also drink mother's milk until it is around ten months old. "Merima" is a Brazilian name meaning "sunshine" and was chosen by the care staff after the original home of the lowland tapirs, South America.