When it was discovered that Tara, one of a breeding pair of Tapirs at Noah’s Ark Zoo at Wraxall, near Bristol, was pregnant, the zoo contacted Finetra to look at installing a camera to monitor her progress. Although pig-like in appearance, Tapirs are actually related to Rhinos and are often referred to as "living fossils" but are now on the endangered list. The pair Tara and Toby, both 4 years old, arrived at the zoo 2 years ago and the impending birth was seen as a significant milestone for the zoo.
Solution
A webcam was installed in Tara and Toby’s enclosure in December 2008. As Tapirs are browsers, they don't have regular feeding times, so keep returning to their monitored area during the day. This gave visitors the ideal opportunity to follow their progress via the camera streamed to the zoo’s own website as well as Finetra’s much loved stream on:
Toby and Taras baby was born on Sat 27th April at 2315 just in time for World Tapir Day. Chris Wilkinson, head keeper at the zoo farm, said: "The remote webcam was installed before Christmas following the discovery that Tara was expecting so that we could monitor her progress throughout her pregnancy. In addition it allowed us to gain a better understanding of the breeding habits of an animal that is becoming increasingly rare.”
The birth process was watched by thousands worldwide via the streaming webcam, a factor that was picked up by the BBC Live Tapir Birth and by the Times, giving invaluable PR to Noah’s Ark Zoo and the plight of the Brazilian Tapirs. Sam Cordrey, a spokesperson from Noah’s Ark Zoo added "We are thankful to Finetra whose talented and professional consultants have ensured that the birth of our new Brazilian Tapir received a worldwide audience. They were always at the end of the phone and were actively involved in the Marketing of the webcam which ensured maximum traffic was attracted. The webcam was a huge success and I genuinely appreciate the efforts of all involved and we plan to work with Finetra again in the near future.”
See the live feed: www.noahsarkzoofarm.co.uk
