Jabari, as a piglet, with his doting parents.
Well, the salad days have come to an end for some of last year’s San Diego Zoo babies (see previous post, Hogs, Okapis, Hippos, and More!).
Red river hog Jabari recently celebrated his first birthday. He’s currently tipping the scales at 70 pounds, and while he is still well away from full maturity, he is hardly the tiny little piglet that could fit in one hand.
Jabari today, with the older C.T.
Jabari is very independent; a few months ago, as part of our ongoing pig management, he was separated from his parents (Tarzan and Asali), and left to share an exhibit with C.T. (an unrelated older female). Jabari took the move in stride, making no fuss. He is also incredibly bright (as most pigs are). In order to get accurate weights on him, we needed to train him to enter and stay in a crate, stress free. The process of introducing him to the crate, getting him to go in, and closing him in for the weigh-in took all of a week.
Sekele as a baby
Sekele, our 11-month-old okapi, is doing very well. He’s been fully weaned for some time and is now separated from his mother, Safarani. Sekele’s training has been a little more challenging, especially now that he is entering the okapi equivalent of the “terrible twos.”
Sekele today
He still allows keepers up-close interaction with him and enjoys a good rubdown, but we have to be a little more careful to avoid getting injured. In another seven months or so, Sekele’s ossicones (horns) should start coming in, and then he’ll look just like a smaller version of his father, Biscotti, who is having a great time with the keepers at the Wild Animal Park.
Little Tembi left us too soon.
Unfortunately, as is life, not all the news is good. Sadly, Tembikai, the three-month-old Malayan tapir, recently passed away (see post New Tapir, New Year). This is a huge loss for our staff as well as the captive tapir population. The cause of Tembikai’s death is as yet undetermined. Tembi will be sorely missed.
Nate Schierman is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
Oh how sad, poor little guy. I re-read the post and although he had some initial problems, he was thriving by the time he was 3 months. Please let us know what happened.
So sorry to hear about Tembi! Just saw him & his mom last month and was looking forward to seeing them tomorrow. They were adorable and made great tapir ambassadors. How is Chantek taking the loss?
I just heard from a friend of mine about Tembi’s passing and I am so sorry to hear that he has left us.
I took some photos of him last month and had been going there the last few week ends looking for him.
Will surely miss him, he certainly captured my heart and I will keep him there with me.
Very sorry to hear of Tembi’s death.
Sorry to hear about Tembi. But thank you for the baby photos and updates on Jabari and Sekele.
Oh, I am so sad to hear the news about little Tembikai. He was so adorable. I absolutely love tapirs. I hppe that Chantek and the rest of his family are all right. My condolences to everyone who has been inovlved with his care. Please let us know what happened.