BioSample

The Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus) is the only living Tapir species outside of the Americas. It is native to Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It is endangered since 2008, currently comprising fewer than 2,500 mature individuals (modified from Wikipedia entry). This sample is from a male born in the Philadelphia Zoo, USA, later transferred to the San Diego Zoo, where a blood sample was collected and supplied by Oliver Ryder and Cynthia Steiner to be used to generate a high-quality reference genome for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP) and conservation research. Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genomes Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Olivier Fedrigo and Erich D. Jarvis.