In October 1996 the estimated wild population size in Oman was 317 oryx. The species had literally been snatched from the grave, with the help of London Zoo. The Malayan tapirs love to wallow in the moat that surrounds the tapir enclosure. Their wild counterparts live in the rainforests of S.E.Asia, being active mainly at night. The London Zoo tapirs are part of the European Captive Breeding Plan, but no calves have been born at the zoo for many years now.
Tapirs are social animals and very easily stressed if kept on their own.
When a male tapir died, its partner was seen to obviously pine for it. In the end this tapir had to be put to sleep, after not responding to prolonged veterinary treatment. The international breeding programme of Greater Asian One Horned Rhinoceroses has recently been boosted by the addition of two wild-caught females, currently on loan form the Nepalese government. These rhinos, of the same genus as the Javan rhinoceros, number 1400 in the wilds of Nepal. Less than a hundred years ago there remained only 15 individuals.