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The Brazilian Tapir also called the lowland tapir, is a large animal that lives in South America. It looks like a mix between a pig and an elephant, but it’s actually related to horses and rhinos! Tapirs have an odd number of toes. They have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot, making 14 hooves in total. One of the coolest things about tapirs is their long, flexible nose, which they use to grab leaves and branches. They can even stick their nose out of the water like a snorkel to breathe while swimming! Female tapirs are pregnant for about 13 months and usually have one baby at a time. Because tapirs have long pregnancies and don’t have many babies, it’s hard for them to increase their numbers in the wild. Baby tapirs, called calves, are born with spots and stripes on their fur to help them hide in the forest. One of the biggest dangers to tapirs is losing their homes as forests are cut down. They are also hunted for their meat, and they have to compete with farm animals for food.
KINGDOM Animalia PHYLUM Chordata CLASS Mammalia ORDER
Perissodactyla
FAMILY GENUS SPECIES
Tapiridae
Tapirus
Tapirus terrestris
Brazillian Tapir Fun Facts
Source: https://southwickszoo.com/our-animals/brazilian-tapir/ They move quickly on land, even over rugged, mountainous terrain and are equally at home in the water. They can live up to 30 years. They eat mainly plants and fruit. They love bananas! They talk to each other by whistling! They are very solitary animals so they like to be alone. The only exception to this is during mating season or when a mother is nursing her baby. The Lowland tapir (sometimes called the Brazilian tapir or South American tapir), is one of four species in the tapir family, along with the mountain tapir, the Malayan tapir, and Baird’s Tapir.
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