The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo introduced one of the newest members of the zoo family on Aug. 28, with the birth of a brand new baby tapir born to first time mother Sempurna.

Tapir babies, cutely nicknamed watermelon babies for their distinctive camouflage patterns that make them look like watermelons, have already begun to win over the animal care team.

Barb Campbell, Animal Care Supervisor at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, teared up while being interviewed about the birth by LWC because of the importance of the birth of the new baby for the survival of the species.

“I’ve been at the zoo since 1979 and in animal care since 1984, so if you do that math, it’s 45 years this. I’ve been told not to cry, don’t worry. This is pretty spectacular. As I’m coming to fairly far on to retirement, fairly in the next few years this is awesome. You can’t beat this,” she said.

Less than 2,500 Malaysian tapirs are left in the wild, and the birth of the calf to first-time mother Sempurna is important to the international species survival plan.

However, there was some adjustment needed by Sempurna to become a mother, as the calf’s incoming teeth were causing pain during nursing.

“Mom, right off the bat, was nursing super well, and then within a bit over 24 hours later, she started being quite twitchy every time the baby tried to latch on. She was very uncomfortable, and we did have to do just a bit of bottle feeding in between, but we discovered her teeth were coming in. So every time she latched on, she was biting mom,” said Campbell.

The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo animal care team was able to provide gentle pain relief along with medication to encourage milk production from Sempurna, and both mother and calf were nursing again successfully.

For the public, that means if all things continue to go well, they will get to see the pair for the first time in their enclosure in the next several weeks.

“We know that people are going to be really excited, but at this point, we want to make sure that baby and mom are stable. One of the biggest things that we need to see happen is that the baby will follow mom. So mom, if she leaves, baby needs to follow. Baby also needs to be able to climb over things as mom climbs, so we want to make sure that the baby is stable enough to do this,” said Campbell.

In the meantime, the zoo has made adjustments to the tapir enclosure by lowering water levels in some of the pools and completely for others to make it safe for when the calf does make their appearance.

Campbell said that they will naturally increase the water levels over time, eventually increasing them to a level where the tapirs can swim again as they do in the wild.

“We also want to make sure that it at least emulates what’s happening out in the wild, and in the same order that would happen in the wild, right? So the baby would be born, it would then follow its mom, it would go swimming in different areas. So, we want to make sure all those natural things will be happening even in this situation,” she said.

That natural experience for the tapirs will also extend to whether or not the calf is exposed to sire Tanuck, said Campbell.

“These animals are naturally solitary animals. They would come together in the rainforest for breeding, and then they would go on their merry way. So, you’ll have mom and the calf and males in the rainforest, but they don’t necessarily hang out together,” she said.

“That’s one of those things that we’ll have to see if we want to introduce mama and baby to the dad down the road. We’ll figure that one out as we go right now. We’re just focusing on mom and dad’s needs.”

Zoo family says goodbye to much-loved grizzly bear Skoki

The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo said goodbye on Sept. 2, to 35-year-old grizzly bear Skoki after making the decision to euthanize the bear over its declining health.

Skoki came to the Calgary Zoo in 1996, after being identified in the then-used terminology as a problem bear that associated with humans with food.

Grizzly Bear 16 was relocated numerous times by Parks Canada staff away from the Bow Valley, but after that proved to be ineffective, GB16 was moved to the zoo for care rather than being destroyed.

Patrick Thompson, an Animal Care Manager for the Wilder Institute/Caglary Zoo was emotional when he recounted how important Skoki was to the wider zoo family and guests over the decades.

“I hope that the community understands how lucky we were to have him. He was a special bear, and he had such a great story and such an amazing life that people understand how lucky we were,” he said.

“Skoki has been an absolute institution for practically 30 years here at the zoo, it’s not an exaggeration to say he’s touched the lives of tens of millions of people. He was so well loved by hundreds, if not thousands of staff that got the opportunity to be around him and work with him. He was just an incredible bear. His personality made him so easy and fun to work with, and we he just did so many incredible things and touched so many people.”

That made Skoki a great ambassador for bears over the years, said Thompson.

“He was just that perfect conduit to tell that story and to, like, help educate those people. I think he had a massive impact… I think we still strive to kind of reach that balance between humans and the wild bears here in Alberta.”

Thompson said that over the past number of years, the zoo had made numerous changes to Skoki’s enclosure to ensure that he had a high quality of life, even as his mobility began to decline.

“We try to make their habitats more accessible to them, so they don’t have to go as high or climb on the high things that you know might be more difficult for them in their old age. We also want to modify their diets, because obviously, as you get older, your body changes and your needs change. So, our nutritionist here at the zoo worked hard to make sure that we were always keeping up with the bears,” he said.

“Even up until this year, we did lots of great training. Skoki would do voluntary blood draws so the vets could check his blood and see how he was doing. He would always come up and do voluntary nail trims as well. He learned those things even in those last years of his life, just to help us keep him comfortable.”