Well to be honest, a reskin of a very similar animal is the bare minimum of effort. Most can't even tell what one major problem is with the tapir outside these hyper-realism groups.
I don't think the situation here has anything to do with hyperrealism. The two animals are visually distinct enough to have separate models and animations, much more so than the two brown bears, tigers, wolves, etc. If someone can't tell the differences in shape between the two tapirs to the point they aren't bothered by the in-game Malayan tapir (not pointing the finger at you, just see this pov around here a lot), then that means they are simply not well educated on tapirs enough, because the differences are clear as day. Even the pictures of Malayan tapir models shared on this page, from other games, as well as the PZ ones, are enough to show how ridiculous the situation is.
The in-game props of the Malayan tapir next to the actual model is also a good reference point (if someone can post screenshots it will be appreciated). The situation here is probably worse than giving leopards and jaguars the same model, with different coat patterns, but if that was the case people would have lost it, simply because big cats matter to them more or their eyes are trained to see their differences better. I doubt the term hyperrealism would have been used in that situation.
