Their noses are snorkels . They plant tree with their poop . They walk underwater . Meet a radical of remarkable mammals who look sort of like pigs but are relate to horse , and once lived around the world : the tapirs .
1. TAPIRS CAN GET PRETTY HEAVY.
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Tapirs are n’t very magniloquent — thelargestdoesn’t quite reach 4 feet at the shoulder joint — but they are rotund . TheMalayan tapir , the only coinage aboriginal to Asia , can librate 720 pounds or more . The other four species are small . In 2013 , scientistsdescribed a Modern species , the kabomani tapir , which is the littlest , weighing an estimated 240 pound or so .
2. THEY CAN GRAB THINGS WITH THEIR SNOUTS.
tapir ’ upper lips are stretch out intolong snoutsthat resemble elephant trunk . These whippy mini - trunk are prehensile , which means that they can grasp thing — for example , a tapir may employ its snout to pluck tasty leaves or put fruit in its mouth . Sometimes , a swim tapir may even pound its schnoz out of the water and apply it as a snorkel .
3. THEY MAKE THIS FACE.
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tapir often curl their lip and raise their snouts , making a funny - count boldness . What ’s pass away on here ? Is the tapir just really happy ? Or is it about to sneeze ?
This weird deportment has a name : it ’s called theflehmen response . Giraffa camelopardalis , horses , family cats , and many other animals do it too — but it look more telling with a tapir ’s snout . When these animals coil their upper lip , they ’re using an surplus - muscular good sense somewhere between taste perception and olfactory sensation . The legal action opens up a twain of ducts in their mouths to institutionalise material up into a special sensational trunk called the vomeronasal organ .
Often , critters make this face to glean extra info about other member of their species from substance such as weewee . Just do n’t try it yourself : you lack the equipment . man have lost those special ducts and vomeronasal organs .
4. BABY TAPIRS LOOK NOTHING LIKE ADULTS.
Though adult tapirs are n’t very colourful , child tapirsare covered in bright smudge and zebra chevron . This rule belike avail obscure their shape in the underbrush , enabling them to conceal from predators such as big cats . Many other creature are bespeckle when they ’re young , but recede their pip as they get older . For example , a muckle of deer ( think of Bambi ) have dapple that fade with long time .
5. TAPIRS HELP FORESTS THRIVE … WITH THEIR POOP.
Tapirs eat plants — and beyond that , they’re not picky . They live in tender , obtuse forests with diverse flora , and they ’ll graze on grass , graze tree diagram leaf , and chomp on twigs . Fruits and Chuck Berry are an important part of their diet , too . And here ’s where the quarter comes in : Many germ can survive the trip through tapirs ’ digestive systems . As tapirs betray through the forest munching fruit , they poop out the seeds , spreading them to new locations .
One studyfound that 135 sample of lowland tapir dung contained seeds from an astonishing 122 plant species . Unintentionally , tapirs help disperse seed from their favorite fruit trees , which means more yield for tapirs — and other animals .
6. THEY HAVE SURPRISING RELATIVES.
Take a facial expression at a flick of a tapir . Can you tell where it fit in the animal kingdom ? Despite its beak , it ’s not intimately related to the elephant . And though it ’s pretty portly , it ’s not a grunter or a Hippopotamus amphibius .
Stumped ? It turns out that tapir ’ secretive congeneric arerhinoceroses and horses . They all belong to a radical shout out the “ odd - toe ” mammalian — they have an odd bit of toes ( as opposed to an even turn ) . Horses walk on one hoof it toe , and rhinos take the air on three toes . Just to be perplexing , tapirs have three toe on their hind feet and four on the front . And their foot lookpretty unearthly .
7. TAPIRS CAN WALK UNDERWATER.
tapir have sex the water . They ’re terrific natator and divers , and they get into body of water to cool off , dine on aquatic plants , fend off predators , andhave sex . They can also walk — pretty rapidly , even — on the bottom of a river or lake , as in the ending of the video above .
8. DON’T FIGHT A TAPIR.
Tapirs may look like fuzzy , gentle plant life - eaters . They ’re typically very shy , and when they ’re frightened , they ’re potential to flee .
But tapirs have a tough side . These animal are irregular and willfiercely defend themselves and their untested , sometimes maiming or even killing people . In one mellow - profile case , the former Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy wasattacked by a mother tapirwhen he attempt to get a nigh look at her baby .
The bottom line ? Tapir tone-beginning are very rarified , but you should always treat these brute with respect and give them the space they need to feel safe and comfortable .
9. THEY’RE PRETTY THICK-SKINNED, TOO.
equate to their relatives , tapirs may seem naked . They lack a rhinoceros ’s horns or a horse ’s speed . However , they have a very toughhidethat helps protect them from predators and forbid injury as they push through dense forest . And though they may not look furry , tapir are track in short hair . Mountain tapirs haveespecially thick furto serve them stay warm up in the mountains .
10. THEY WHISTLE.
You might expect tapirs to bellow or moo . But no , they make a high - pitched sound that the San Diego Zoo describes as “ car brake screeching to a halt ” . When bother , they will also stamp their fundament and snort .
11. THEY ARE CREATURES OF THE SHADOWS.
tapir are active at night . Specifically , they’recrepuscular . This terminus touch to dawn and dusk , and in zoology , animals that are most active at those times — like the tapir .
During dusk , these mammals will labor mirthfully through the dark forest looking for tasty plants .
12. THE MALAYAN TAPIR IS THE ODD ONE OUT.
All tapir species — except one — live in Central and/or South America . But the Malayan tapir lives all the way of life around the humans in Southeast Asia . How did that one coinage wind up so far aside from its closest full cousin ?
tapir are part of an ancient blood that ’s about 50 million years former . They once cast many parts of the cosmos , with tapir happily munch leaves inEurope , North America , and China . But as temperature cooled and the Continent uphold to shift , tapir ’ affectionate wood shrunk and moved south .
These changing condition prompted some animals to adjust to new habitats , such as the grassland that now cover much of the body politic . But tapir were creatures of drug abuse . Theystuck with their forests , remaining relatively unchanged for millions of years . So , today ’s tapir are the last survivor of a once internationally successful group .
13. TAPIRS ARE IN TROUBLE.
Here ’s the bad news : all tapirs are facing serious threats to their endurance .
accord to the International Union for Conservation of Nature ’s Red List of Threatened Species , Baird ’s tapir is classified asEndangereddue to home ground going and hunting ; the universe has more than halve in recent decades . TheEndangeredmountain tapir is in a similarly dire position . search , home ground loss , and competitor for stock are driving down numbers of the lowland tapir , which is labeledVulnerable . And the sole Asiatic coinage , the Malayan tapir , is alsoEndangered .
But there ’s still clip to save tapir . The IUCN ’s Tapir Specialist Group bid someways to help , including supporting preservation groups and visiting tapirs on ecotourism trips .
14. HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE “TAPIR,” ANYWAY?
While you ’ve been say this article , how have you been pronounce “ tapir ” in your brain ? If you ’re feel incertain about the orthoepy , do n’t worry — you’re not alone .
The word tapir come from the language of Brazil ’s autochthonous Tupi people , whocalled it “ tapyra . ”These 24-hour interval , English - speak people seem to say it at least four different ways : 1 . ta - PEER , 2 . TAY - per ( so that it sound like “ wax light ” ) , 3 . TAY - peer and 4 . TAY - pyer
So , which one is correct ? That ’s laborious to say . The Merriam - Webster Dictionary suggeststhree pronunciations , as doesthis YouTube pronunciation series . Wikipedia hastwo pronunciations . Thisvideofrom the Zoological Society of London is firmly in the TAY - pyer camp , butthis onefrom National Geographic uses TAY - per . And , of course , Ze Frankloves his tantalum - PEER . The public debate rages on .
