TAPIR

TAPIR  BRAZIL

The Tapir belongs to the family of equids which includes horses, rhinos, asses and zebras. However, the tapir was the first of the family and yet they are amongst the most primitive of all the world's mammals. They hardly changed since they evolved 55 millions years ago. The first tapir lived in North America and from there it spread all over Eurasia. These two regions were the most populated by the tapir over all the millions of years. After the last Ice Age, 15,000 years ago, none of the tapir lived there again.

The Rhinos evolved from the tapirs about 40 million years ago. There were three original families of tapirs but only one survived and this is the only family in which some of them have horns.

The long stocky body of the tapir is supported by short limbs. Its rather small with immobile ears, a short neck, very short tail and the rump little higher than the shoulder completes the description of the tapir. The streamline body which is slightly narrower in the front helps to push through the tense forest. The head has a short fleshy trunk coming from the nose and a slightly enlarged upper lip with the nostrils at the end.

The American species have a longer one than the Malaysian tapir. It uses it to smell and also to pull the shoot and leaves and put it into its mouth. Their eyes are small and set deep into their socket to prevent any damage from branches or thorns. Their eyesight is not very good and not important since they are nocturnal animals. Their hearing is good and their sense of smell even better.

Tapir's skin is tough and covered with very little hairs except the mountain tapir which has a thick coat for protection against the cold.

There are four species of tapir. Three live in Central and South America and one in southeast Asia. Baird's tapirs live in a variety of habitats such as woodland, mangrove, swamps and tropical forests. They spread from southern Mexico to Ecuador. However, it has been noted that their numbers decline and are only found in fragmented areas.

The mountain tapir which is also called the woolly or Andean tapir, is the world's smalled and rarest tapir. Its much thicker coat of hair is protecting it from the cold of the Andes mountains. It lives in forest which are often misted over and at a height of 4500m. Only small numbers are known to exist in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. It is assumed, also in west Venezuela.

TAPIR BABY

BAIRD'S TAPIR

MALAYAN TAPIR

MOUNTAIN TAPIR

The Brazilian tapir, also called South American tapir, is to be found from Colombia, Venezuela  to Paraguay and Brazil. It lives in woodland and grassy areas any-where near a permanent water supply.

The largest of the tapir is the Malayan one. It also is coloured with great wide belt of white and the rest is a black body.

They have a habit to walk with their snout on the ground. It is assumed that they trying to smell either other tapirs or enemies. During the day it hides in shrubs or thickets and comes out at night to feed on vegetation in shrubberies or grassland not far from the river banks.. It feeds on grasses, leaves, aquatic plants, buds, twigs and fruits of low growing shrubs. The preferable food is green shoots.

The tapir is a great swimmer and diver. It is a great deal in rivers and feeds on aquatic plants or wallows in mud to rid itself of parasites. It also can climb river banks and steep mountainsides. Apart from the mating season the tapir is a solitary animal.

They breed at any time in the year. Each female giving birth to one calf every one and a half to two years. When they court they make such a racket with shrill whistles and wheezing sounds. They stand head to tail, sniffing each other's part. During this they revolve in circles, faster and faster.

The baby is born in a secure lair. When they are newly born they all have dark-reddish-brown coat with yellow stripes and spots. This gives them a camouflage against the dappled light and shade of the forest. These stripes and spots begin to fade at the age of two months. When it is six months old it has the parent coat. Soon after, it leaves its mother and reaches maturity in about two to three years time.

The danger the tapir faces is its dwindling habitat by logging for growing crops or ranching cattle. Also dams can break and flood the area. Hunters are shooting it for sport or meat or the high-quality leather which they get from the thick skin. All species of tapir are threatened of extinction. The only hope for these mammals is to be in large nature reserve to be able to survive. The most threatened species are the mountain tapir and Baird's tapir.

It has to be emphasized that these animals were around for about 55 million of years and we managed to drive them to extinction within not even a 100 years. It is not only the tapir, it is happening with everything and anything if we would stop and look at it. On a whole it has nothing to do with pollution -- it is   G R E E D.

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