Rain Forest Land Habitats School Site
St. Joseph's Intermediate "Exploring Land Habitats" Project
The Tapir is related to the horse and rhinoceros,
but looks like a pig. The tapir has a short, heavy body and a thick neck,
it also has a short movable trunk. Tapirs are wary creatures. Tapirs live
in
depths of the forest, and near water, because
they love to swim. Tapirs like to eat twigs and foliage
of trees and shrubs, and on fruit and other vegetable
foods.
There are two kinds of tapirs that live in South
America. The most common one is found in the forest
regions east of the Andes. The other makes its
home high in these mountains. All full grown tapirs are
dark brown in color, Young tapirs are marked
with yellowish streaks. A malayan tapir is found in
Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.
The malayan tapir stands 3 to 3% feet (91 to 107
cm). It has a back, rump, and sides are white while
the rest of the thinly haired body is glossy
black or dark brown. People hunt tapirs for their flesh and
thick hides. As a result of both hunting and
the cutting of forest,tapirs have become rare in many areas
Scientific classification
Tapirs from the tapir family,Tapiridae.The South
American tapir is Tapirus terrestris
.The mountain tapir is T. roulini.The Central tapir is T. bairdi.The Malayan
tapir is
T. indicus.