He is one of only four of his kind in the country and has moved from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

“He is the only male tapir left in Australia,” zookeeper Amanda Chisholm said.

“He’s very sweet, like a big puppy and he loves pats.”

Sadly, the tapirs brought to and bred in Australia have suffered from severe eye and sight problems, that is why Berani is one of just four in the country.

He may be blind, but his handlers have worked hard to help him adapt to his new home.

“Berani gets eye medication twice a day,” she said.

“We covered the enclosure in ­hessian and have slowly dropped the height of the cover each day to allow more light in.

“We have also used food in places around the exhibit to show him where the safe places are.”

Berani is 20 years old and weighs a whopping 350 kilograms.

When tapir are alarmed, such as when they hear a predator, they flee at speed.

Due to this behaviour they are often decsribed as the bulldozers of the rainforest and because of this ­handlers have to interact with Berani from behind a fence.

He also has large sharp teeth and an interesting prehensile (capable of grasping) snout.

“He looks like an elephant crossed with a pig, crossed with a pander,” Ms Chisholm said. “He is definitely a strange, mysterious animal.

“It is so exciting to work with such an amazing animal.”

The tapir are found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

There are only 1500 to 2000 Malayan tapir left in the wild and they are listed as endangered animals.

They live in the rainforest, but logging and deforestation  have destroyed much of their natural ­habitat. The tapir eat fruit and plants, but Berani’s favourite food is figs.

Berani’s enclosure at Hunter Valley Zoo is open to the public, but until he gets used to his new ­surroundings there is no guarantee visitors will be able to see him.

Hopefully he will be out of his den to splash around in his pool during the summer months.