Poland’s First Malayan Tapir Born at Płock Zoo

The news in Polish

1. tapir  (m.)
   duże ssak z długim, ruchliwym nosem, żyjący w tropikalnych lasach ↩︎
2. malajski
   pochodzący z Malajów lub związany z kulturą i regionem Azji Południowo-Wschodniej ↩︎
3. samiec  (m.)
   osobnik płci męskiej u zwierząt ↩︎
4. zagrożony
   narażony na niebezpieczeństwo lub ryzyko utraty czegoś ↩︎
5. wyginięcie  (n.)
   całkowite zniknięcie gatunku zwierząt lub roślin z powierzchni Ziemi ↩︎
6. urodzić się
   przyjść na świat, rozpocząć życie ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Where does the young male tapir now live?

Question 2: Approximately how many Malayan tapirs are there in zoos around the world?

Vocabulary

Polish	English
tapir  (m.)	tapir
malajski	Malayan
samiec  (m.)	male
zagrożony	endangered
wyginięcie  (n.)	extinction
urodzić się	to be born

Read the full story

A Płock Zoo in Poland is celebrating a historic milestone after the birth of the country’s first-ever Malayan tapir. The zoo announced the news on 15 July 2026, and by the following day the young male had become something of a celebrity, attracting journalists, senior officials from Poland’s General Directorate for Environmental Protection, and even the city’s mayor.

The one-month-old calf can already be seen in his enclosure alongside his mother, Krissy. Zoo staff describe the birth as a significant success for the conservation of the species.

The numbers underline just how rare the event is. Roughly 200 Malayan tapirs live in zoos worldwide, and only seven were born in captivity in the past year — three of them in Europe. The Płock calf is the fourth born on the continent and the first ever in Poland.

The young tapir currently displays a distinctive spotted coat, which will change as he matures. Adult Malayan tapirs are recognisable by their striking two-tone colouring — black on the head, legs and hindquarters, with a white midsection. The spotted pattern typically disappears by around six months of age.

The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), also known as the Asian tapir, lives in parts of South-East Asia, including Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Sumatra. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as endangered; the most recent figures, from 2014, estimated around 2,500 individuals remaining in the wild. Captive breeding is therefore considered essential to the species’ survival.

Poland may yet see further births. A second pair of Malayan tapirs is kept at Łódź Zoo, where a female joined a male named Willy in June 2026, raising hopes for future offspring in the coming years.