Basic introduction
Tapirs (mò) are mammals of the order Chithope and tapir family. There are only 1 genus and 5 species in the tapir family. It is found in Southeast Asia (1 species) and South America (4 species). The most primitive chicchic in existence. Tapirs have small eyes and are flush with the sides of the head; Their ears are oval, erect, and less flexible. Maintain primitive features such as 4 toes of the forelimbs and 3 toes of the hind limbs. It is pig-like in size and has a short nose that can be retracted. Their backs are rounded and tapering in front – perfect for moving quickly through dense bushes. Their tails are also short. The tapirs are scattered with thick hairs, and the manes of two South American species are inconspicuous.
Good at swimming and diving, plant-feeding. Tapirs are shy, reclusive rainforest animals that live in almost any wooded or overgrown habitat with a permanent water source. They are also found in dry deciduous and mountain forests.
Three of the tapirs live in South America, from southern Mexico to Central America to Venezuela to Paraguay and southern Brazil. The fourth species, the Asian tapir, inhabits burma and thailand south of Malaya and Sumatra. The fifth species, the Kapomani tapir, a tapir found in Brazil and Colombia in 2013, is similar to but much smaller than the lowland tapir, with darker hair color than the lowland tapir.
Tapirs are large herbivorous mammals with a nose that can be wrapped around and can move in all directions. Tapirs use their noses to reach vegetation that would otherwise be out of reach, much like a shrunken elephant's nose. Despite their sheer size, these mysterious animals are elusive in their natural rainforest habitat. Unprecedented deforestation and habitat fragmentation mean that these wonderful and unique animals are becoming increasingly difficult to find.
Species classification of tapirs
American tapir
The body length is usually 2 meters, the height is 1.1 meters, and the weight of adult Chinese tapirs is 220-300 kg. Like other tapirs, they have a long nose and can be flexibly retracted. The forelimbs are four toes and the hindlimbs are three toes. There is a milky white mark on the face and throat, and a dark spot on the cheek. The rest of the body is dark brown or grey-brown. It is the largest of the three species of American tapirs and the largest terrestrial mammal seen in Mexico to South America.
Asian tapir
It is a medium to large mammal with four toes on the forelimbs and three toes on the hind limbs. In general, Asian tapirs are between 1.8 and 2.2 meters long, standing 90 to 105 cm high, and adults generally weigh between 230 and 310 kg; female Malay tapirs are usually larger than males, with round and cute bodies, thick fur, and black except for the white body hair in the middle and back of the body, which is like a belly pocket and diaper-wrapped. When the tapir is born, it has striped protective color and brown hair on its body. Its appearance is "like a pig is not a pig, and it seems that an elephant is not an elephant", so there are also ancient books that call it "four unlike". Asian tapirs are found in southeast Asia on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, living in low-altitude tropical rainforests.
Mountain tapir
Body length 180 cm, shoulder height: 75-80 cm, weight 150 kg. Most of the body has long brown to black hairs , and the lips are white around them. Adult mountain tapirs have two hairless areas on their hips. Adult tapirs are about 1.8 meters long, 0.8 meters high, and weigh 150 to 230 kilograms. Juvenile tapirs have camouflage stripes on their bodies. It mainly inhabits montane forests at an altitude of 1400 to 4700 meters, and feeds mainly on shrubs, ferns and other plants. It is the smallest of four surviving tapir species and inhabits the Andes regions of Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru.
Lowland tapir
It is the largest wild land animal in South America. It is dark brown with a short, erect mane from the top of the head to the nape of the neck. They are 1.8–2.5 m long, have a tail 5–10 cm long and weigh 230 kg. Shoulder height 77-108 cm. You can swim and run, even in the rugged mountains. Their lifespan is about 25-30 years. Herbivorous. They use flexible snouts to eat leaves, buds, young branches, and tiny branches. It is found in Venezuela, Colombia and Guyana to the north, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay to the south, and Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador to the west.
Capomani tapir
Also known as the little black tapir. A tapir found in Brazil and Colombia in 2013, it is similar to but much smaller than the lowland tapir. It is the smallest of the tapirs. The average weight is about 105 kg, the body length is 1.2 meters, the shoulder height is 90 cm, and the limbs are shorter than all tapir species. The body color is dark, the body is thick and bulky, the skin is thick and tough, and the hair is sparse; The nasal end protrudes forward and can be freely retracted; Ears of medium size, ovoid; Tail extremely short; There are 1 pair of nipples. The body resembles a pig, the body is covered with hard hairs, there is a nose that can be extended, it also has shorter legs, the skull is obvious, and there is a mane that forms a less prominent peak on the top of the head.
Zoological history of tapirs
The earliest record of tapirs in the fossil record comes from the early Oligocene. The Eocene genus Heptodon is very similar to modern tapirs, except that it does not have a proboscis. Tapirs were widely distributed in North America, Europe and Asia until the late Pleistocene.
Tapirs have an unusual distribution – they are the only New World chick-ungulates (three inhabit Central and South America), but one is native to Asia. The fossil record suggests that this group evolved in North America, emerging in the early Eocene, spreading to Asia during the Miocene, and to South America during the Pleistocene. Subsequently, tapirs went extinct in much of North America, possibly due to climate change – southern Mexico is the northernmost part of the U.S. tapir range.
There are four species of tapirs, the more primitive chiccos, which once spread throughout Europe and Asia, and the Miocene began to migrate into the Americas. Fossils of the genus Tapir have been found in the Pleistocene ruling strata of southern China , which remain in some islands in southern Asia , the Indochina Peninsula , and the Americas. The four species of tapirs in the Americas are relatively single in color, and most of them are smaller than the Asian tapir. American tapirs are distributed between Mexico and Colombia. Mountain tapirs are mainly distributed in the Andes Mountains in Colombia and Ecuador.
Tapirs are herbivores, shaped like pigs, but larger than pigs, and survived in warm, humid environments between 1 million and 10,000 years ago, mainly in South China. However, due to environmental changes, the giant tapir became extinct about 10,000 years ago. With the exception of its "close relative" in Southeast Asia, the Asian tapir, there are only four other species left, and the rest have all become extinct.
The Malayan tapir diverged about 30 million years ago and is evolutionarily distinct from the American tapir; The relationship between the two is as close as our relationship with baboons! Although they look like pigs on the surface, tapirs are actually most closely related to rhinos. Tapirs and rhinos diverged about 50 million years ago, while the ancestors of tapirs and rhinos diverged from horses about 10 million years ago.
Threats received by tapirs
These species are listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and are threatened by deforestation and habitat fragmentation, hunting pressures and livestock diseases. As a result, the entire lineage of endangered species, including a large branch of the Tree of Life, faces the threat of extinction in our lifetime. The extinction of these tapirs would mean the loss of about 120 million years of independent evolutionary history; That's the equivalent of losing more than 50 of evolutionary least obvious mammal species!
Protection of tapirs
Esteban studies a camera trap image of a Bald tapir
Researcher Esteban Bruns-Mora is working in his hometown of Costa Rica to improve the conservation status of the Baird tapir, the largest terrestrial mammal in Central America. Esteban is using camera traps and other signs of their presence to determine the distribution of the Talamaka Mountain tapir, which is split in half by the Pan-American Highway. Collisions with tapirs are frequent on this highway, and there are fears that this could create an obstacle for tapirs to pass. Esteban hopes to use his habitat data to identify priority areas along the highway, thereby implementing mitigation measures to reduce the number of tapirs that crash and kill on the highway in the area.
This work, combined with Community Outreach in Esteban to raise awareness and participation among local residents in the conservation of the region's tapirs, has the potential to have a huge impact on the future of the region's tapirs.