Zoo database

Tapir

Tapirus spp.

Natural diet Tapir

Fruits
Grasses
Herbs
Leaves

Tapirs are frugivorous browsers and have an opportunistic feeding style. Therefore, their natural diet is diverse but largely consist of plants and fruits. However, this is dependent on their habitat and availability.

Feeding advice Tapir

Feed quantity per day

1,5% of body weight

Sample percentage calculation

If an animal weighs 200 kg and eats 1.5% of its body weight, it will get

200 x 0.015 = 3 kg feed in total per day

Feed composition

30% Concentrates
10% Leafy and cabbage vegetables
40% Grass, lucerne and other roughages
20% Browse

Proportions (fresh product)

0.3 x 3 kg = 900 g concentrates
0.1 x 3 kg = 300 g leafy and cabbage vegetables
0.4 x 3 kg = 1200 g grass, lucerne and other roughages
0.2 x 3 kg = 600 g browse

Diet suggestions

In moderation

Variety of leafy and cabbage vegetables

Grass hay

Not recommended

Fruits

Additional advice

Divide the “Feed quantity per day” over at least three feeding moments per day.
Provide the less palatable feed components at the beginning of the day to reduce selective feeding.
The browse used in the diet can be a mixture between dried and fresh browse (read more about browsers and grazers).
The provided roughage should be an even mixture between lucerne and grass hay.
Feeding fruits might lead to abnormal fermentation in the hindgut because of high sugar levels (read more about nutritional values of (wild) fruits and vegetables).
Provide feed enrichment by scatter feeding or by using feeding puzzles, tubes, hanging baskets, boxes or balls (read more about feed enrichment and foraging behaviour).

Common diseases

An unbalanced diet may result in one of these more commonly occurring diseases/conditions:

Iron storage disease
Enterolithiasis
Colic
Acute Lameness
Dental abscess
Torsion

Species within this group

Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii),

Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus),

Mountain tapir (Roulin's tapir),

Northern lowland-tapir (Tapirus terrestris terrestris),

South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris)

Feed quantity per day

Sample percentage calculation

Feed composition

Proportions (fresh product)

Dry Tapir food grain free

Boskos Browser

Hazelnut leaves - 10-20 kg bag

Raspberry leaves - 10-20 kg bag

KNZ Mineral-lick Horse

Jannicke Kiezebrink

Director Operations