63-511: The giant tapir ( Tapirus augustus ) is an extinct species of tapir that lived in southern China , Vietnam and Laos , with reports suggesting it also lived in Taiwan , Java , and potentially Borneo . The species has been recorded from Middle and Late Pleistocene . There is only weak evidence for a Holocene survival. Tapirus augustus was larger than any living tapir, with an estimated weight of about 623 kilograms (1,373 lb). The species
126-452: A paraphyletic complex of T. terrestris populations. T. indicus (Malayan tapir) T. terrestris (South American tapir, Ecuador cluster) T. pinchaque (mountain tapir) T. terrestris (South American tapir, other clusters) T. bairdii (Baird's tapir) The species of tapir have the following chromosomal numbers: The Malayan tapir,
189-466: A common name for the species. The Karitiana people call it the little black tapir . It is, purportedly, the smallest tapir species, even smaller than the mountain tapir ( T. pinchaque ), which had been considered the smallest. T. kabomani is allegedly also found in the Amazon rainforest , where it appears to be sympatric with the well-known South American tapir ( T. terrestris ). When it
252-567: 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. However, the tapir's sensitive ears and strong sense of smell help to compensate for deficiencies in vision. Tapirs have simple stomachs and are hindgut fermenters that ferment digested food in a large cecum . Young tapirs reach sexual maturity between three and five years of age, with females maturing earlier than males. Under good conditions,
315-457: A good deal of time in and under 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 to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies. Along with freshwater lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits, which helps to keep them cool and free of insects. In
378-452: A group of people indigenous to the area, regularly hunt the tapir. Additional threats exist from crocodilians and jaguars, natural predators of tapirs within the area. Humans aside, the region of the Amazon in which T. kabomani is found has also been highlighted as an area that is likely to be particularly susceptible to global warming and the ecosystem changes it brings. Although it
441-399: A healthy female tapir can reproduce every two years; a single young, called a calf, is born after a gestation of about 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is about 25 to 30 years, both in the wild and in zoos. Apart from mothers and their young offspring, tapirs lead almost exclusively solitary lives. Although they frequently live in dryland forests, tapirs with access to rivers spend
504-634: A single genus , Tapirus , is currently extant. Tapirs migrated into South America during the Pleistocene epoch from North America after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama as part of the Great American Interchange . Tapirs were formerly present across North America, but became extinct in the region at the end of the Late Pleistocene , around 12,000 years ago. The term tapir comes from
567-496: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tapir Tapirs ( / ˈ t eɪ p ər / TAY -pər ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae . They are similar in shape to a pig , with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America and Southeast Asia . They are one of three extant branches of Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), alongside equines and rhinoceroses . Only
630-513: Is a conservation and research organization founded by Patrícia Medici , focused on tapir conservation in Brazil. Tapirs are generally shy, but when scared they can defend themselves with their very powerful jaws. In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed after opening the door to a female tapir's enclosure to push food inside (the tapir's two-month-old baby also occupied
693-451: Is a range of darker grey to brown than other T. terrestris strains. This species also features relatively short legs for a tapir caused by a femur length that is shorter than dentary length. The crest is smaller and less prominent. T. kabomani also seems to exhibit some level of sexual dimorphism as females tend to be larger than males and possess a characteristic patch of light hair on their throats. The patch extends from
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#1732852491199756-585: Is also believed to be present in Amazonas department in Colombia , and it may be present in Amapá , Brazil, in north Bolivia and in southern French Guiana . T. terrestris is an excellent swimmer and diver, but also moves quickly on land, even over rugged, mountainous terrain. It has a life span of approximately 25 to 30 years. In the wild, its main predators are crocodilians (only the black caiman and Orinoco crocodile ,
819-467: Is an herbivore . Using its mobile nose, it feeds on leaves, buds, shoots, and small branches it tears from trees, fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants. They also feed on the vast majority of seeds found in the rainforest. This is known because the diet is studied through observation of browsing, analysis of feces, and studying stomach contents. Although it has been determined via fecal samples that T. kabomani feeds on palm tree leaves and seeds from
882-553: Is insufficiently supported. However, besides cytochrome b, two other mitochondrial genes were analyzed, COI and COII, both showing the same pattern found for cytochrome b. Several other objections raised against the distinction of T. kabomani from T. terrestris , including external and internal morphological characters, statistical analysis, distribution and use of folk taxonomy, were addressed in Cozzuol et al (2014). Further genetic evidence invalidating T. kabomani as
945-737: Is limited; all captive mountain tapirs, for example, are descended from only two founder individuals. Hybrids of Baird's and the South American tapirs were bred at the San Francisco Zoo around 1969 and later produced a backcross second generation. A number of conservation projects have been started around the world. The Tapir Specialist Group, a unit of the IUCN Species Survival Commission , strives to conserve biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and conducting practical programs to study, save, restore, and manage
1008-628: Is shallower and less dorsally extended than those of the other four extant species of tapir. The South American tapir can be found near water in the Amazon Rainforest and River Basin in South America, east of the Andes . Its geographic range stretches from Venezuela , Colombia , and the Guianas in the north to Brazil , Argentina , and Paraguay in the south, to Bolivia , Peru , and Ecuador in
1071-601: The Andes is generally more active during the day than its congeners . They have monocular vision . Copulation may occur in or out of water. In captivity, mating pairs will often copulate several times during oestrus. Intromission lasts between 10 and 20 minutes. Adult tapirs are large enough to 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
1134-492: The Great American Biotic Interchange with their oldest records on the continent dating to around 2.6-1 million years ago. Approximate divergence times based on a 2013 analysis of mtDNA sequences are 0.5 Ma for T. kabomani and the T. terrestris – T. pinchaque clade, 5 Ma for T. bairdii and the three South American tapirs, and 9 Ma for the branching of T. indicus . T. pinchaque arises from within
1197-455: The IUCN Red List as Endangered or Vulnerable . The tapirs have a number of extinct relatives in the superfamily Tapiroidea . The closest extant relatives of the tapirs are the other odd-toed ungulates , which include horses , wild asses , zebras and rhinoceroses . During the Late Pleistocene , several other species inhabited North America, including Tapirus veroensis , native to
1260-556: The Pleistocene strata of the area. Tapirus augustus was first described in 1923 William Diller Matthew and Walter Granger based on fossils found by the American Museum of Natural History during the Central Asiatic Expeditions of 1920–1930. The fossils had been recovered just a few miles from the site where many of the teeth described by Schlosser had been found. This prehistoric odd-toed ungulate -related article
1323-464: The Portuguese-language words tapir , tapira , which themselves trace their origins back to Old Tupi , specifically the term tapi'ira code: tpw is deprecated . This word, according to Eduardo de Almeida Navarro , referred in a more precise manner to the species Tapirus terrestris . There are four widely recognized extant species of tapir, all in the genus Tapirus of
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#17328524911991386-627: The Tupi tapi'ira ), the Amazonian tapir , the maned tapir , the lowland tapir , anta ( Brazilian Portuguese ), and la sachavaca (literally "bushcow", in mixed Quechua and Spanish ), is one of the four recognized species in the tapir family (of the order Perissodactyla , with the mountain tapir , the Malayan tapir , and the Baird's tapir ). It is the largest surviving native terrestrial mammal in
1449-471: The flehmen response , a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth to detect scents. This response is frequently exhibited by bulls sniffing for signs of other males or females in oestrus in the area. The length of the proboscis varies among species; Malayan tapirs have the longest snouts and Brazilian tapirs have the shortest. The evolution of tapir probosces, made up almost entirely of soft tissues rather than bony internal structures, gives
1512-532: The lowland tapir in the Atlantic Forest is at risk of complete extinction as a result of anthropogenic pressures, in particular hunting , deforestation and population isolation. Tapirs originated from the " tapiroids ", a group of primitive perissodactyls that inhabited North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch, with tapirs probably originating from the family Helaletidae . The oldest known members of
1575-471: The Amazon. Most classification taxons also include Tapirus kabomani (also known as the little black tapir or kabomani tapir ) as also belonging to the species Tapirus terrestris (Brazilian tapir), despite its questionable existence and the overall lack of information on its habits and distribution. The specific epithet derives from arabo kabomani , the word for tapir in the local Paumarí language . The formal description of this tapir did not suggest
1638-621: The Asian animal. However, geographic proximity is not an absolute predictor of genetic similarity; for instance, G-banded preparations have revealed Malayan, Baird's and South American tapirs have identical X chromosomes , while mountain tapirs are separated by a heterochromatic addition/deletion. 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
1701-770: The Malayan tapir, also became extinct at some point during the Late Pleistocene. Many primitive tapirs were originally classified under Palaeotapirus including members of Paratapirus and Plesiotapirus , but the original diagnostic material of the genus was too poor to characterize, leading to included species being moved to new genera. M. harrisonensis N. robustus P. intermedius P. yagii P. simplex Giant tapir ( T. augustus ) [REDACTED] Cope's tapir ( T. haysii ) [REDACTED] T. veroensis Size varies between types, but most tapirs are about 2 m ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft) long, stand about 1 m ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 4 ft) high at
1764-594: 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. Tapirs have brachyodont, or low-crowned teeth, that lack cementum . Their dental formula is: Totaling 42 to 44 teeth, this dentition is closer to that of equids, which may differ by one less canine, than their other perissodactyl relatives, rhinoceroses. Their incisors are chisel-shaped, with
1827-403: The bush or into water when threatened, lowland tapirs are capable of defending themselves with their very powerful bite; in 2005, a 55 year old farmer stabbed a 400 lb female lowland tapir that was feeding in his cornfield, which responded by repeatedly biting the man. Both died from their wounds. There is a need for more research to better explore social interactions. The South American tapir
1890-729: The cage at the time). In 2006, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi (who was then the Costa Rican Environmental Minister) became lost in the Corcovado National Park and was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir. In 2013, a two-year-old girl suffered stomach and arm injuries after being mauled by a South American tapir in Dublin Zoo during a supervised experience in the tapir enclosure. Dublin Zoo pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and
1953-408: The chin up to the ear and down to the base of the neck. Head and skull attributes are also important in identification of this species. This tapir possesses a single, narrow, low and gently inclined sagittal crest that rises posteriorly from the toothrow. T. kabomani skulls also lack both a nasal septum and dorsal maxillary flanges. The skull possesses a meatal diverticulum fossa that
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2016-567: The crown down the back of the neck. The round, dark ears have distinctive white edges. Newborn tapirs have a dark brown coat, with small white spots and stripes along the body. The South American tapir can attain a body length of 1.8 to 2.5 m (5 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) with a 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) short stubby tail and an average weight around 225 kg (496 lb). Adult weight has been reported ranging from 150 to 320 kg (330 to 710 lb). It stands somewhere between 77 and 108 cm (30 and 43 in) at
2079-442: The expedition, Leo E. Miller, suggested that two species were present. Nevertheless, though observed by experts, all tapirs from the expedition have been consistently treated as T. terrestris , including specimen AMNH 36661, which is now identified as T. kabomani . Ten years before T. kabomani was formally described, scientists suspected the existence of a new species while examining skulls that did not resemble
2142-436: The extinct species T. rondoniensis . Molecular dating methods based on three mitochondrial cytochrome genes gave an approximate divergence time of 0.5 Ma for T. kabomani and the T. terrestris – T. pinchaque clade, while T. pinchaque was found to have arisen within a paraphyletic T. terrestris complex much more recently (in comparison, the split between T. bairdii and
2205-532: The family Tapiridae . They are the South American tapir , the Malayan tapir , Baird's tapir , and the mountain tapir . In 2013, a group of researchers said they had identified a fifth species of tapir, the kabomani tapir . However, the existence of the kabomani tapir as a distinct species has been widely disputed, and recent genetic evidence further suggests that it actually is part of the species South American tapir . The four species are all classified on
2268-624: The family Tapiridae such as Protapirus are known from the Early Oligocene of Europe. The oldest representatives of the modern genus Tapirus appeared in Europe during the Mid- Miocene , with Tapirus dispersing into Asia and North America by the late Miocene. Tapirus became extinct in Europe around the end of the Pliocene . Tapirs dispersed into South America during Pleistocene as part of
2331-595: The field as little black tapirs instead of South American tapirs. A heavy reliance upon the indigenous people for identification of T. kabomani was also noted in the major dissenting article. Concerns were cited regarding the reliability of information when it is gathered from locals as, while they are frequently aware of many more species in an area, they can sometimes describe haplotypes of culturally important species to be entirely different species. Genetic evidence has been questioned on similar grounds. Several examined genetic sequences said to be characteristic for
2394-508: The four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. The Baird's Tapir Project of Costa Rica, begun in 1994, is the longest ongoing tapir project in the world. It involves placing radio collars on tapirs in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park to study their social systems and habitat preferences. The Lowland Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative
2457-465: The front feet and three on the hind feet, which help them to 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, and males have long penises relative to their body size. The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible organ, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit
2520-521: The genera Attalea and Astrocaryum , much about the diet and ecology of T. kabomani is unknown. Previously discovered tapirs are known to be important seed dispersers and to play key roles in the rainforest or mountain ecosystems in which they occur. It is possible that T. kabomani shares this role with the other members of its genus although further research is required. T. terrestris mates in April, May, or June, reaching sexual maturity in
2583-474: The latter of which is critically endangered, are large enough to take these tapirs, as the American crocodile only exists in the northern part of South America) and large cats, such as the jaguar and cougar , which often attack tapirs at night when tapirs leave the water and sleep on the riverbank. The South American tapir is also attacked by the green anaconda ( Eunectes murinus ). Although they may flee into
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2646-423: The new species is likely to prove more endangered than other members of its genus. Human population growth and deforestation within southwestern Amazonia threaten T. kabomani through habitat destruction. The creation of infrastructure such as roads as well as two dams planned for the area as of December 2013 further threaten to considerably alter the home range. Hunting is also a concern. The Karitiana tribe,
2709-450: The shoulder, and weigh between 150 and 300 kg (330 and 660 lb). Their coats are short and range in colour 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, woolly fur. All tapirs have oval, white-tipped ears, rounded, protruding rumps with stubby tails, and splayed, hooved toes, with four toes on
2772-450: The shoulder. With an estimated mass of only 110 kg (240 lb), T. kabomani is the smallest living tapir. For comparison, the mountain tapir has a mass between 136 and 250 kg (300 and 551 lb). Tapirus kabomani is roughly 130 cm (51 in) long and 90 cm (35 in) in shoulder height. It has a distinct phenotype from other members of the species. It can be differentiated by its coloration: it
2835-477: The skulls of known tapir species. When the species was formally described in December 2013, it was the first tapir species described since T. bairdii in 1865. In both morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, T. kabomani was recovered as the first diverging of the three tapirs restricted to South America. Morphological analysis suggested that the closest relative of T. kabomani may be
2898-665: The southern and eastern United States (with its northernmost records being New York State), and Tapirus merriami and Tapirus californicus , native to Western North America. These became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event around 12,000 years ago, along with most of the other large mammals of the Americas, co-inciding with the first arrival of humans to the continent. Tapirus augustus (formerly placed in Megatapirus ), native to Southeast and East Asia, substantially larger than
2961-567: The species being designated as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on June 2, 1970. It has a significantly lower risk of extinction , though, than the other four tapir species. The species may be relatively common in forest - savanna mosaic habitat (relicts of former cerrado ). Nevertheless, the species is threatened by prospects of future habitat loss related to deforestation , development and expanding human populations. While this tapir does not seem to be rare in
3024-414: The species has also been called into question. Although several samples of T. kabomani have been obtained, only the two samples from southwestern Amazonia were analysed while those obtained in the northwest were not. The connection between the morphology and DNA of supposed T. kabomani in northwestern areas is unknown and there is the possibility that the correlation between mtDNA and morphology
3087-464: The species most isolated geographically and genetically, 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 Baird's tapir and the South American tapir, and 15 between Baird's and the mountain tapir) have also been found in the American species that are not found in
3150-554: The species, and whether or not it can be reliably distinguished from the South American tapir, has subsequently been questioned on both morphological and genetic grounds. Morphological differences between the two species of tapir are noted to be especially difficult to discern in photographs allegedly depicting T. kabomani and noted to be only qualitatively described in the original literature. Morphologically, lack of published numerical ranges for diagnostic differences make it incredibly difficult for individuals to be identified in
3213-483: The species, most notably the Cyth sequence of cytochrome b , have been described as minimally divergent from those of other South American tapirs. Further analyses of cytochrome b sequences did reveal a clade allegedly belonging to T. kabomani , however, it was described to be only as divergent as some haplotype found in other species. Mitochondrial DNA originally connected to morphological traits and used to describe
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#17328524911993276-495: The tapirs restricted to South America took place around 5 Ma ago). T. bairdii (Baird's tapir) T. kabomani (little black tapir) T. terrestris (South American tapir, Ecuador cluster) T. pinchaque (mountain tapir) T. terrestris (South American tapir, other clusters) T. indicus (Malayan tapir) The validity of
3339-537: The thick undergrowth of the forest or in water. Hunting for meat and hides has substantially reduced their numbers and, more recently, habitat loss has resulted in the conservation watch-listing of all four species; the Brazilian tapir is classified as vulnerable, and Baird's tapir, the mountain tapir, and the Malayan tapir are endangered. According to 2022 study published in the Neotropical Biology and Conservation ,
3402-443: 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. Tapirs are lophodonts , and their cheek teeth have distinct lophs (ridges) between protocones, paracones, metacones and hypocones. Tapirs have brown eyes, often with a bluish cast to them, which has been identified as corneal cloudiness,
3465-458: The third year of life. Females go through a gestation period of 13 months (390–395 days) and will typically have one offspring every two years. A newborn South American tapir weighs about 15 pounds (6.8 kilos) and will be weaned in about six months. The dwindling numbers of the South American tapir are due to poaching for meat and hide, as well as habitat destruction. T. terrestris is generally recognized as an endangered animal species, with
3528-439: The upper Madeira River region of the southwestern Brazilian Amazon, its precise conservation status is unknown. T. kabomani is limited by its habitat preference and tends not to be found where its preferred mosaic gives way to either pure savannah or forest. This, in combination with the fact that other less restricted tapir species within the area are already classified as endangered, has led scientists to hypothesize that
3591-484: The west. On rare occasions, waifs have crossed the narrow sea channel from Venezuela to the southern coast of the island of Trinidad (but no breeding population exists there). Tapirus kabomani is restricted to South America . It is found in habitats consisting of a mosaic of forest and savannah. It has been collected in southern Amazonas (the type locality ), Rondônia , and Mato Grosso states in Brazil . The species
3654-413: The wild, the tapir's diet consists of fruit, berries, and leaves, particularly young, tender vegetation. 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 kg (85 lb) of vegetation in one day. Tapirs are largely nocturnal and crepuscular , although the smaller mountain tapir of
3717-466: The world. In Japan, tapirs are associated with the mythological Baku , believed to ward off nightmares. In South America, tapirs are associated with the creation of the earth. [REDACTED] South American tapir Extinct Extant Probably extant The South American tapir ( Tapirus terrestris ), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from
3780-650: Was also placed in its own genus of Megatapirus , however, it is now conventionally placed within Tapirus . Despite not being named until 1923, the Palaeontological Museum, Munich Paleontologist Max Schlosser described several teeth purchased from Chinese drug stores in 1903 that he assigned to Tapirus sinensis . Some of the teeth had been unearthed at the Chang I locality in Wanzhou , Eastern Sichuan , China that come from
3843-484: Was described in December of 2013, T. kabomani was the first odd-toed ungulate discovered in over 100 years. However, T. kabomani has not been officially recognized by the Tapir Specialist Group as a distinct species; recent genetic evidence further suggests it is likely a subspecies of T. terrestris. T. terrestris is dark brown, paler in the face, and has a low, erect crest running from
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#17328524911993906-511: Was not formally described until 2013, the possibility that T. kabomani might be a distinct species had been suggested as early as 100 years prior. The first specimen recognized as a member of this species was collected on the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition . Theodore Roosevelt (1914) believed they had collected a new species, as local hunters recognized two types of tapir in the region and another member of
3969-432: Was ordered to pay €5,000 to charity. However, such examples are rare; for the most part, tapirs are likely to avoid confrontation in favour of running from predators, hiding, or, if possible, submerging themselves in nearby water until a threat is gone. Frank Buck wrote about an attack by a tapir in 1926, which he described in his book, Bring 'Em Back Alive . Tapirs feature in the folklore of several cultures around
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