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Tapir
Malayan Tapir
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Perissodactyla
Family:
Tapiridae

Gray, 1821
Genus:
Tapirus

Brünnich, 1772
Species

Tapirus bairdii
Tapirus indicus
Tapirus pinchaque
Tapirus terrestris

Tapirs (/ˈteɪpɚ/, as in "taper", or /təˈpɪər/, as "ta-pier") are large browsing mammals, roughly pig-like in shape, with short, prehensile snouts. They inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. All four species of tapir are classified as endangered or vulnerable. Their closest relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates, horses and rhinoceroses.

Species

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There are four tapir species:

Hybrid tapirs from the Baird's Tapir and the Brazilian Tapir were bred at the San Francisco Zoo around 1969 and produced a second generation around 1970.[1]

Physical characteristics

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Brazilian Tapir

Size varies between types, but most tapirs are about 2 meters (7 ft) long, stand about a meter (3 ft) high at the shoulder, and weigh between 150 and 300 kg (330 to 700 lb). Coats are short and range in color from reddish-brown to grey to nearly black, with the notable exceptions of the Malayan Tapir, which has a white saddle-shaped marking on its back, and the Mountain Tapir, which has longer, wooly fur. All tapirs have oval, white-tipped ears, rounded, protruding rear ends with stubby tails, and splayed, hoofed toes, with four toes on the front feet and three on the hind feet, which help them walk on muddy and soft ground. Baby tapirs of all types have striped-and-spotted coats for camouflage. Females have a single pair of mammary glands.[2]

Mountain Tapir

The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible structure, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit the flehmen response, a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth, in order to detect scents. This response is frequently exhibited by bulls sniffing for signs of other males or females in oestrus in the area. Proboscis length varies among species; Malayan Tapirs have the longest snouts and Brazilian Tapirs have the shortest.[3] The evolution of tapir probosces, made up almost entirely of soft tissues rather than bony internal structures, gives the Tapiridae skull a unique form in comparison to other perissodactyls, with a larger sagittal crest, orbits positioned more rostrally, a posteriorly telescoped cranium, and a more elongated and retracted nasoincisive incisure.[4] [5]

Drawing of a Tapir skeleton

Tapirs have brachyodont, or low-crowned, teeth that lack cement. Their dental formula is

Dentition
3.1.4.3
3.1.3-4.3

totaling 42 to 44 teeth; this dentition is closer to that of equids, who may differ by one less canine, than their other perissodactyl relatives, rhinoceroses.[6] [7] Their incisors are chisel-shaped, with the third large, conical upper incisor separated by a short gap from the considerably smaller canine. A much longer gap is found between the canines and premolars, the first of which may be absent.[8] Tapirs are lophodonts, and their cheek teeth have distinct lophs (ridges) between protocones, paracones, metacones and hypocones.[9] [10]

Front and back hooves of a Malayan Tapir

Tapirs have brown eyes, often with a bluish cast to them which has been identified as corneal cloudiness, a condition most commonly found in Malayan Tapirs. The exact etiology is unknown, but the cloudiness may be caused by excessive exposure to light or by trauma.[11] [12] However, the tapir's sensitive ears and strong sense of smell help to compensate for deficiencies in vision.

Lifecycle

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Young tapirs reach sexual maturity between three and five years of age, with females maturing earlier and coming into oestrus every two or three months .[13] [14] Under good conditions, a healthy female tapir can reproduce every two years; a single youngster is born after a gestation of about 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is approximately 25 to 30 years, both in the wild and in zoos. Little is known for sure about tapirs’ mating patterns in the wild: there is some evidence that mature tapirs mate with the same partner for life, but pairs spend little or no time together aside from sexual activity.[15] Apart from mothers and their young offspring, tapirs lead almost exclusively solitary lives.

Behavior

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Baird's Tapir

Although they frequently live in dryland forests, tapirs with access to rivers spend a good deal of time in and under the water, feeding on soft vegetation, taking refuge from predators, and cooling off during hot periods. Tapirs near a water source will swim, sink to the bottom and walk along the riverbed to feed, and have been known to submerge themselves under water to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies.[16] Along with fresh water lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits, which also helps to keep them cool and free of insects.

In the wild, the tapir’s diet consists of fruit, berries, and leaves, particularly young, tender growth. Tapirs will spend many of their waking hours foraging along well-worn trails, snouts to the ground in search of food. Baird’s Tapirs have been observed to eat around 40 kilograms (85 pounds) of vegetation in one day.[17]

Tapirs are largely nocturnal and crepuscular, although the smaller Mountain Tapir of the Andes is generally more active during the day than its congeners. They have monocular vision.

A juvenile Brazilian Tapir

Habitat, predation, and vulnerability

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Adult tapirs are large enough that they have few natural predators, and the thick skin on the backs of their necks helps to protect them from threats such as jaguars, crocodiles, anacondas, and tigers. The creatures are also able to run fairly quickly, considering their size and cumbersome appearance, finding shelter in the thick undergrowth of the forest or in water. Hunting for meat and hides has substantially reduced their numbers and, more recently, massive habitat loss has resulted in the conservation watch-listing of all four species: both the Brazilian Tapir and the Malayan Tapir are classified as vulnerable; and the Baird’s Tapir and the Mountain Tapir are endangered. Tapirs tend to prefer old growth forests and the food sources that can be found in them, making the preservation of primary woodlands a top priority for tapir conservationists.

Evolution and Natural History

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A Malayan Tapir sitting

The first tapirids, such as Heptodon, appeared in the early Eocene.[18] They appeared very similar to modern forms, but were about half the size, and lack the proboscis. The first true tapirs, appeared in the Oligocene, and by the Miocene, such genera as Miotapirus were almost indistinguishable to the extant species. It is believed that Asian and American tapirs diverged around 20 to 30 million years ago, and that tapir varieties moved from North America to Central and South America around 3 million years ago.[19] For much of their history, tapirs were spread across the northern hemisphere, where they became extinct as recently as 10,000 years ago[20].

It is also believed by some scientists that the tapir may have evolved from the Hyracotherium (primitive horse).[21]

Genetics

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The four species of tapir have the following chromosomal numbers:

Malayan tapir, T. indicus2n = 52
Mountain tapir, T. pinchaque2n = 76
Baird's tapir, T. bairdii2n = 80
Brazilian tapir, T. terrestris2n = 80

The Malayan tapir, the species most isolated geographically from the rest of the genus, has a significantly smaller number of chromosomes and has been found to share fewer homologies with the three types of American tapirs. A number of conserved autosomes (13 between karyotypes of the Baird’s Tapir and Brazilian Tapir, and 15 between the Baird’s and Mountain Tapir) have also been found in the American species that are not found in the Asian animal. However, geographic proximity is not an absolute predictor of genetic similarity; for instance, G-banded preparations have revealed that Malayan, Baird’s and Brazilian Tapirs have identical X chromosomes, while Mountain Tapirs are separated by a heterochromatic addition/deletion.[22]

Lack of genetic diversity in tapir populations has become a major source of concern for conservationists. Habitat loss has isolated already small populations of wild tapirs, putting each group in greater danger of dying out completely. Even in zoos, genetic diversity is limited; all captive mountain tapirs, for example, are descended from only two founder individuals.[23]

Attacks on humans

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Brazilian Tapir exhibiting the flehmen response

Tapirs are generally shy, but when they are scared they can defend themselves with their very powerful jaws. In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed by a tapir bite, after she attempted to feed the attacking tapir's young.[24] In 2006, a 46-year-old man (who was the Environmental Minister at the time) who was lost in the Corcovado National Park at Costa Rica was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir.[25] However, such examples are rare; for the most part, tapirs are likely to avoid confrontation in favor of running from predators, hiding, or, if possible, submerging themselves in nearby water until a threat is gone.[26]

Cultural references

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In Chinese, Korean and Japanese, the tapir is named after a beast from Chinese mythology. A feature of this mythical creature is a snout like that of an elephant. In Japanese cartooning (manga and anime) tapirs can eat people's dreams. In Chinese, the name of this beast, subsequently the name of the tapir, is mò in Mandarin and mek in Cantonese (貘). The Korean equivalent is maek (Hangul: 맥, Hanja: 貊), while it is called baku (バク) in Japanese. The Chinese file hosting service Mofile has been referred to as the tapir by Chinese-speaking users.

Brazilian tapirs appear anachronistically in the opening section of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, set in an African desert during the Pleistocene era.

More recently, the opening scene of another feature film, Apocalypto, involved a tapir hunt.

In the video game and anime series Pokémon, the Pokémon Drowzee (as well as its evolved state Hypno) resembles a tapir and is said to eat dreams.

In the video game and anime series Digimon, the Digimon Tapirmon (aka Bakumon) is modeled after a tapir.

Notes

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  1. ^ Pictures of T. bairdii x T. terrestris cross taken by Sheryl Todd, The Tapir Gallery, web site of the Tapir Preservation Fund
  2. ^ Gorog, A. 2001. Tapirus terrestris, Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 19, 2006
  3. ^ Witmer, Lawrence, Scott D. Sampson, and Nikos Solounias. “The proboscis of tapirs (Mammalia: Perissodactyla): a case study in novel narial anatomy”. Journal of Zoology, 1999, The Zoological Society of London; page 251
  4. ^ Witmer, page 249
  5. ^ Colbert, Dr. Matthew, 2002, "Tapirus terrestris" (On-line), Digital Morphology. Accessed June 20, 2006
  6. ^ Ballenger, L. and P. Myers. 2001. "Tapiridae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 20, 2006
  7. ^ Huffman, Brent. Order Perissodactyla at Ultimate Ungulate
  8. ^ "PERISSODACTYLA." LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia
  9. ^ Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Diversity of Cheek Teeth. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed June 20, 2006
  10. ^ Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Basic Structure of Cheek Teeth. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed June 20, 2006
  11. ^ Tapirs Described, the Tapir Gallery
  12. ^ Janssen, Donald L., DVM, Dipl ACZM, Bruce A. Rideout, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVP, Mark E. Edwards, PhD. "Medical Management of Captive Tapirs (Tapirus sp.)." 1996 American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Proceedings. Nov 1996. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Pp. 1-11
  13. ^ Woodland Park Zoo Animal Fact Sheet: Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus)
  14. ^ "Wildfacts" sheet on the Brazilian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), BBC Science and Nature
  15. ^ Morris, Dale. “Face to face with big nose.” BBC Wildlife, March 2005, page 37.
  16. ^ Morris, page 36.
  17. ^ TPF News, Tapir Preservation Fund, Vol. 4, No. 7, July 2001. See section on study by Charles Foerster.
  18. ^ Ballenger, L. and P. Myers. 2001. Family Tapiridae (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed November 22, 2007.
  19. ^ Ashley, M.V., Norman, J.E. and Stross, L.: "Phylogenetic analysis of the perissodactylan family tapiridae using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COII) sequences." Mammal Evolution. 3:315-326, 1996.
  20. ^ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 261. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  21. ^ Florida Museum of Natural History Fact Page
  22. ^ Houck, M.L., S.C. Kingswood, A.T. Kumamoto. “Comparative cytogenetics of tapirs, genus Tapirus (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae). Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics 2000; 89: 110-115 (DOI: 10.1159/000015587)
  23. ^ Mountain Tapir Conservation at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
  24. ^ "Woman's arm bitten off in zoo attack", Associated Press report by Jay Hughes, 20 Nov 1998
  25. ^ "Lost Costa Rica minister found with tapir bite", Reuters, 23 Apr 2006 01:11:51 GMT
  26. ^ Goudot, Justin. "Nouvelles observations sur le Tapir Pinchaque (Recent Observations on the Tapir Pinchaque)," Comptes Rendus, Paris 1843, vol. xvi, pages 331-334. Available online with English translation by Tracy Metz. Report contains accounts of wild Mountain Tapirs shying away from human contact at salt deposits after being hunted, and hiding.
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