They are common in Malaysia. Some other species of tapirs are also found in the tropical forests of South America and Central America. There are four species of tapirs in the world, all listed in the Red Book as endangered.
Their close relatives are other odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinoceroses. Tapirs are considered ancient animals. Scientists have found tapir fossils from 55 million years ago. During the past 55 million years, they have had almost no change in shape.
Odd-toed ungulates, including tapirs, became the dominant group of terrestrial folivores during the Oligocene. It is believed that Asian and American tapirs diverged about 20 to 30 million years ago, and that American tapirs migrated from North America to Central and South America about 3 million years ago.
Tapirs are a very large species in the pig family. They are up to 2m long, 1m high, and weigh up to 300kg, even 500kg. The tapir’s trunk is a highly flexible structure that can move in all directions, allowing it to reach leaves in difficult locations.
The length of the trunk varies depending on the species. The Malaysian tapir has the longest trunk and the Brazilian tapir has the shortest. Although the tapir’s senses are very poor, even going blind in the sun, it has a highly developed sense of hearing and smell.
Tapirs reach sexual maturity at about 3-5 years old. Healthy female tapirs give birth every 2 years. The gestation period of female tapirs is up to 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is about 25-30 years, both in the wild and in zoos.
Surprisingly, tapirs are very loyal animals. During their entire lives, they have only one partner, although only during mating time do they stay together. Surprisingly, tapirs are very loyal animals. During their entire lives, they have only one partner, although only during mating time do they stay together.
Although they live in dry forests, tapirs frequently bask in water, feeding on soft grasses to seek shelter from predators and to cool off. Tapirs near water sources will swim, dive to the bottom, and walk along riverbeds to feed, as well as dive into the water to allow small fish to pluck parasites from their massive bodies.
Along with wading, tapirs also often wallow in mud puddles, which helps them cool down and remove insects from their bodies. Tapirs love to eat fruits and leaves, especially young, soft leaves. They eat up to 40kg of food each day. They mainly forage at night or at dusk.
Although they are gentle animals, it is difficult for other animals to bully them, because they have thick skin on their backs and necks, protecting them from threats from jaguars, crocodiles, pythons, and tigers.
However, hunting for meat and skins has greatly reduced tapir numbers, and more recently habitat loss has caused tapirs to be listed as endangered.
