220kg tapir falls into ditch in M'sia, gets stuck & is later rescued

What's black and white and probably isn't having the greatest day?

This guy right here.

The hapless tapir, which apparently weighs 220kg, had fallen into a water-filled ditch in Malaysia on Dec. 18.

It'd gotten stuck and was unable to escape, reported Malaysian media Sinar Harian.

A resident, Wan Zahhar Wan Zakaria, came across the unfortunate scene while on his way to his mother-in-law's house at around 8am.

He tried to guide the animal out, but was unsuccessful as the slopes of the ditch were too high and slippery for the mammal to climb, he said.

Instead, he asked a villager to contact the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) for help.

Terengganu Perhilitan director Loo Kean Seong confirmed that they had received a call from the public at around 8:10am, and deployed rescuers to the location.

"We managed to capture the male tapir by using a tranquiliser gun and trapping it," he said.

The tapir was safely released to its habitat the same day, he added.

Not really that chonky

The creature in question was likely a Malayan tapir.

The largest of all four tapir species found worldwide, it's the only tapir species found in Asia.

But it's also an endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Described to be living fossils, tapirs have been around since the Eocene.

They're also agile and fast swimmers, which are believed to have swum over from Malaysia to Singapore on several occasions.

Interestingly, they can hold their breath up to 90 seconds, and can use their trunks as convenient snorkels.

Despite 220kg sounding like a fairly chonky size, it's actually pretty small for its species. According to the Tapir Specialist Group, they typically weigh in at around 350kg.

Guess he still has some room to grow.

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Top image from Sinar Harian