Video: Baby tapir takes first steps at Edinburgh Zoo

ZOOKEEPERS have captured an endangered Malayan tapir calf tentatively plodding along outside for the first time – and there’s a high chance it’s the cutest thing you’ll see all day.

Maybe that’s because the rare calf – born at Edinburgh Zoo to mother Sayang and father Mowgli – is so adorably small (he weighed just 24lb (11kg) at birth).

But the little guy won’t stay so little for long. In fact, he will double in size over the coming weeks, eventually weighing up to 50st (320kg) and growing to be 8ft (2.4m) in length.

Malayan tapirs are native to the rainforests of Burma, Malaysia, Sumatra and Thailand, and are listed as endangered. But keepers say the calf will help with the fight to save his species.

baby tapir in a pond with its mum — (Edinburgh Zoo/PA)

Karen Stiven, hoofstock keeper at the zoo, said: “The tiny calf is doing very well and, whilst he is staying close to his mother, he has been rambling around a bit on his small shaky legs to explore his surroundings.

“On Monday afternoon he took his first tentative steps into the outdoor paddock and was even brave enough to take a few splashes in the pond.

“The birth of this calf is very significant as he will go on to play a role in the conservation of this rare species as, once he is old enough, he will join the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme to help augment a safety-net population for this species, ensuring they do not go extinct.”

baby tapir and adult tapir — (Jon-Paul Orsi/RZSS/PA)

The calf’s brown coat is striped and dotted with white, designed to provide camouflage in the forest. However after a few months he will look very different as he will start to lose the pattern.

And by the time he’s six months old he will actually resemble a miniature adult tapir – he’ll have a stocky black body and white or grey midsection.

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