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Plush baby tapir
"Media-Pinta"

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This was the first baby tapir toy in plush that we found for the Tapir Gallery Gift Shop. To our dismay, he/she was discontinued by the manufacturer within a year of when we got our first shipment. "Media-Pinta" means "half-pint" in Spanish. Her name was suggested by Rachel Dvoskin, who won our naming contest in February 1999.

Media-Pinta is a very soft eight inches from snout to tail and has legs that can be moved 360 degrees for standing, sitting, or even body surfing. Created by the North American Bear Company in Chicago, this tapir is very light in color. We thought the face was just a bit strange until we saw actual photos of this little guy at the Dublin Zoo, photographed by Robert A. Wilson.

We learned about Media-Pinta from Carol Langford, and our Snout Scout (Annemarie Succop aka Anna Snoute) tracked down the source.

The tag that comes with the tapir tells a little about tapirs and even more about the plight of the rainforest. North American Bear donates a portion of its profits to the Rainforest Alliance. There is a cute picture of Mom and Baby tapir on the tag also.