South American Tapir
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| South American tapir | |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Tapiridae |
| Genus: | Tapirus |
| Species: | T. terrestris |
| Binomial name | |
| Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| South American tapir range (green - extant, black - former) |
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The South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), or Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi tapi'ira) or lowland tapir or (in Portuguese) anta, is one of four species in the tapir family, along with the mountain, the Maylayan, and the Baird's tapirs.[2] It is the second-largest land mammal in South America, after the Baird's tapir.
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[edit] Appearance
It is dark brown to light tan with white patches in colour, paler in the face, and has a low, erect crest running from the crown down the back of the neck. The round, dark ears have distinctive white edges many tapir are born without and grow white rims later on in their life . The South American tapir can attain a body length of 1.8 to 2.5 m (5.9 to 8.2 ft) with a 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) short stubby tail and an average weight around 225 kg (500 lb). Adult weight has been reportedly ranged from 150 to 320 kg (330 to 710 lb).[3][4] It stands somewhere between 77 to 108 cm (30 to 43 in) at the shoulder.
[edit] Range
The South American tapir can be found near water in the Amazon Rainforest and River Basin in South America, east of the Andes. Its 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 the West.
[edit] Behavior
Lowland tapirs are excellent swimmers and divers, but also move quickly on land, even over rugged, mountainous terrain. They have a life span of approximately 25 to 30 years. In the wild, their main predators are crocodilians (only the black caiman and Orinoco crocodile, the latter of which is critically endangered, are large enough to take these tapirs, as the American crocodile only exists in South America in the far north) and large cats such as the jaguar and cougar, which often attack tapirs at night when they leave the water and sleep on the riverbank. They are known to run to water when scared.
[edit] Diet
It is an herbivore. Using its mobile snout, this tapir feeds on leaves, buds, shoots, and small branches it tears from trees, fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants.
[edit] Mating
They mate in April, May, or June, reaching sexual maturity in their 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. Newborn tapir weigh about 15 pounds and will be weaned in about six months.
[edit] Endangered status
Dwindling numbers are due to poaching for meat and hide, as well as habitat destruction.
The South American tapir is generally recognized as an endangered animal species, with 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 three tapir species.
[edit] References
- ^ Naveda, A., de Thoisy, B., Richard-Hansen, C., Torres, D.A., Salas, L., Wallance, R., Chalukian, S. & de Bustos, S. (2008). Tapirus terrestris. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 April 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of vulnerable.
- ^ Grubb, Peter (16 November 2005). "Order Perissodactyla (pp. 629-636)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). p. 634. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14100043.
- ^ http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tapirus_terrestris.html
- ^ http://www.perunature.com/content/tapir-tapirus-terrestris-amazon
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tapirus terrestris |
- ARKive - images and movies of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
- Tapir Specialist Group - Lowland Tapir
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