The male calf was born on June 17, but the zoo delayed the announcement until the animal had safely passed its first month of life, the period considered most critical for newborns.
The Malayan tapir is classified as endangered, with fewer than 2,500 adults believed to remain in the wild in Southeast Asia.
"This is undoubtedly a major breeding success," Płock Zoo CEO Krzysztof Kelman told reporters, crediting the achievement to the work of the keepers caring for the breeding pair, which arrived several years ago from zoos in the Netherlands.
According to the Polish zoo, only seven Malayan tapirs have been born in zoological parks worldwide over the past 12 months, including three in Europe, where the captive adult population numbers just 46 animals.
The calf is the fourth Malayan tapir born in Europe during the past year and the eighth worldwide, said Radomir Lewandowski, head of the zoo's animal breeding department.
"We are incredibly proud because this is our real contribution to protecting a species whose numbers in the wild continue to decline," Lewandowski told Poland's PAP news agency.
He said the calf weighed 10.5 kilograms at birth after a pregnancy lasting 13 months and 10 days, slightly above the typical birth weight of 8 to 10 kg.
Now more than one month old, the animal weighs almost 30 kg and is growing rapidly, Lewandowski said.
Once independent, in about 18 months, it is expected to be transferred to another zoo participating in international conservation breeding efforts.
Anna Ronikier-Dolańska, deputy head of Poland's General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ), said the birth represented an important contribution to global conservation efforts.
"Płock Zoo has written itself into the history of nature conservation not only in Poland and Europe, but worldwide," she said.
The breeding pair consists of a 5-year-old female and a 3-year-old male.
The zoo said Malayan tapirs are found naturally in Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where they inhabit dense tropical rainforests.
Adults are recognisable by their distinctive black-and-white colouring, which helps camouflage them in the forest at night, while calves are born with spotted and striped coats that provide additional camouflage before fading after about six months.
The species typically gives birth to a single calf every two years.
Płock Zoo said Malayan tapirs are kept in only one other Polish zoo, in the central city of Łódź.
Founded in 1951 on a bluff overlooking the Vistula River, Płock Zoo is home to about 5,000 animals representing around 450 species and participates in international breeding programmes for endangered animals.
(gs)
Source: PAP