TACOMA, Wash. — It’s a girl! Point Defiance Zoo recently welcomed a rare and endangered Malayan tapir calf.
Her name is Ume, which means plum blossom and apricot in Japanese.
The zoo says her keeper staff chose the name.
Ume was born on Feb. 2 to 9-year-old Yuna.
“Little Ume sports the signature white spots and stripes of a newborn tapir, making her look like a tiny, fuzzy watermelon,” the zoo wrote online.
Staff say mom and baby are thriving behind the scenes and they can’t wait to share updates soon.
Tapir calves nurse until about six months and typically remain with their mothers until they are 12 to 18 months old.
Adult female tapirs can grow up to about 1,000 pounds; males, the smaller of the species, can top 800 pounds.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the number of tapirs is decreasing in the wild as their natural habitat is lost to human development.