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==Hybrids==
==Hybrids==
[[Hybrid]] tapirs from the Baird's Tapir and the Brazilian Tapir were bred at the [[San Francisco Zoo]] around [[1968]] and produced a second generation around [[1970]].<ref>[http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/tbtap015.htm Pictures of ''T. bairdii x T. terrestris'' cross] taken by Sheryl Todd, The Tapir Gallery, web site of the Tapir Preservation Fund</ref>
[[Hybrid]] tapirs from the Baird's Tapir and the Brazilian Tapir were bred at the [[San Francisco Zoo]] around [[1968]] and produced a second generation around [[1970]].<ref>[http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/tbtap015.htm Pictures of ''T. bairdii x T. terrestris'' cross] taken by Sheryl Todd, The Tapir Gallery, web site of the Tapir Preservation Fund</ref>
[[Image:Central American Tapir-Belize20.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|A [[Baird's Tapir]] in [[Belize]]]]
[[Image:http://images.scotsman.com/2004/05/11/1105carb.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|A [[Baird's Tapir]] in [[Belize]]]]


==General appearance==
==General appearance==

Revision as of 12:13, 3 November 2006

Tapirs
Brazilian Tapir
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Perissodactyla
Family:
Tapiridae

Gray, 1821
Genus:
Tapirus

Brünnich, 1772
Species

Tapirus bairdii
Tapirus indicus
Tapirus pinchaque
Tapirus terrestris

Tapirs are large browsing mammals, roughly pig-like in shape, with short, prehensile trunks. They inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. All four species of tapir are classified as endangered or vulnerable. Their closest relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates, horses and rhinoceroses.

Species

There are four tapir species:

Hybrids

Hybrid tapirs from the Baird's Tapir and the Brazilian Tapir were bred at the San Francisco Zoo around 1968 and produced a second generation around 1970.[1]

File:Http://images.scotsman.com/2004/05/11/1105carb.jpg
A Baird's Tapir in Belize

General appearance

Size varies between species, but most tapirs are about 2 meters (7 ft) long, stand about a meter (3 ft) high at the shoulder, and weigh between 150 and 300 kg (330 to 700 lb). Coats are short and range in color 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, wooly fur. All tapirs have oval, white-tipped ears, rounded, protruding rear ends with stubby tails, and splayed, hoofed toes, with four toes on the front feet and three on the hind feet, which help them walk on muddy and soft ground. Baby tapirs of all types have striped-and-spotted coats for camouflage, and while they appear at first glance to be alike, there are some differences among the patterns of different species. Females have a single pair of mammary glands.[2] The penis of the male tapir is very long when erect.

Physiology

The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible structure, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit the flehmen response, a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth, in order to detect scents. This response is frequently exhibited by bulls sniffing for signs of other males or females in oestrus in the area. Proboscis length varies among species; Malayan Tapirs have the longest snouts and Brazilian Tapirs have the shortest.[3] The evolution of tapir probosces, made up almost entirely of soft tissues rather than bony internal structures, gives 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.[4] [5]

Sketch of the skull of a tapir, compared with a Malayan tapir shown in profile

Tapirs have brachyodont, or low-crowned, teeth that lack cement. Their dental formula is I 3/3, C 1/1, P 4/3-4, M 3/3, totaling 42 to 44 teeth; this dentition is closer to that of equids, who may differ by one less canine, than their other perissodactyl relatives, rhinoceroses.[6] [7] Their incisors are chisel-shaped, with 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.[8] Tapirs are lophodonts, and their cheek teeth have distinct lophs (ridges) between protocones, paracones, metacones and hypocones.[9] [10]

Tapirs have brown eyes, often with a bluish cast to them which has been identified as corneal cloudiness, 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.[11] [12] However, the tapir's sensitive ears and strong sense of smell help to compensate for deficiencies in vision.

Natural history

The tapir family is old by mammalian standards. The earliest fossil tapir dates to the early Oligocene, and Eocene rocks from as early as 55 million years ago contain a wide range of tapir-like animals, and they have changed little since.[1] These ungulates could be found world-wide. Perissodactyls, including tapiroids, became the predominant large terrestrial browsers through the Oligocene, and many members of the group survived until the late Pleistocene. It is believed that Asian and American tapirs diverged around 20 to 30 million years ago, and that tapir varieties moved from North America to Central and South America around 3 million years ago.[13]

Lifecycle

Young tapirs reach sexual maturity between three and five years of age, with females maturing earlier and coming into oestrus every two or three months.[14] [15] Under good conditions, a healthy female tapir can reproduce every two years; a single youngster is born after a gestation of about 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is approximately 25 to 30 years, both in the wild and in zoos. Little is known for sure about tapirs’ mating patterns in the wild: there is some evidence that mature tapirs mate with the same partner for life, but pairs spend little or no time together aside from sexual activity.[16] Apart from mothers and their young offspring, tapirs lead almost exclusively solitary lives.

The undersides of the front (left, with four toes) and back (right, with three toes) feet of a Malayan tapir at rest

Behavior

Although they frequently live in dryland forests, tapirs with access to lakes or rivers spend a good deal of time in and under the 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 under water to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies.[17] Along with fresh water lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits, which also helps to keep them cool and free of insects.

In the wild, the tapir’s diet consists of fruit, berries, and leaves, particularly young, tender growth. 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 kilograms (85 pounds) of vegetation in one day.[18]

Tapirs are largely nocturnal and crepuscular, although the smaller Mountain Tapir of the Andes is generally more active during the day than its congeners.

File:Bairds Tapir lying down.jpg
An adult Baird's tapir at the San Francisco Zoo

Habitat, predation, and vulnerability

Adult tapirs are large enough that they 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 the thick undergrowth of the forest or in water. However, tapirs have no reliable defense against humans, by far the greatest threat to their survival. Hunting for meat and hides has substantially reduced their numbers and, more recently, massive habitat loss has resulted in the conservation watch-listing of all four species: both the Brazilian Tapir and the Malayan Tapir are classified as vulnerable; and the Baird’s Tapir and the Mountain Tapir are endangered. Tapirs tend to prefer old growth forests and the food sources that can be found in them, making the preservation of primary woodlands a top priority for tapir conservationists.

Genetics

A baby Brazilian Tapir with spots and stripes characteristic of all juvenile tapirs

The four species of tapir have the following chromosomal numbers:

Malayan tapir, T. indicus2n = 52
Mountain tapir, T. pinchaque2n = 76
Baird's tapir, T. bairdii2n = 80
Brazilian tapir, T. terrestris2n = 80

The Malayan tapir, the species most isolated geographically from the rest of the genus, 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 the Baird’s Tapir and Brazilian Tapir, and 15 between the Baird’s and Mountain Tapir) have also been found in the American species that are not found in the Asian animal. However, geographic proximity is not an absolute predictor of genetic similarity; for instance, G-banded preparations have revealed that Malayan, Baird’s and Brazilian Tapirs have identical X chromosomes, while Mountain Tapirs are separated by a heterochromatic addition/deletion.[19]



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 is limited; all captive mountain tapirs, for example, are descended from only two founder individuals.[20]

An adult Malayan Tapir sitting

Attacks on humans

Tapirs are generally shy, but when they are scared they can defend themselves with their very powerful jaws. In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed by a tapir bite, after she attempted to feed the attacking tapir's young.[21] In 2006, a 46-year-old man who was lost in the Costa Rican jungle was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir.[22] However, such examples are rare; for the most part, tapirs are likely to avoid confrontation in favor of running from predators, hiding, or, if possible, submerging themselves in nearby water until a threat is gone.[23]

Cultural references

In Chinese, Korean and Japanese, the tapir is named after a beast from Chinese mythology. A feature of this mythical creature is a snout like that of an elephant. It is said to eat people's dreams. In Chinese, the name of this beast, subsequently the name of the tapir, is mò in Mandarin and mek in Cantonese (貘). The Korean equivalent is maek (Hangul: 맥, Hanja: 貊), while it is called baku (バク) in Japanese.

Although horses are claimed to exist in the ancient New World in the Book of Mormon, no physical evidence hs yet been found to support that notion. An alternative speculation is that tapirs were the New World 'horses' mentioned in this text[2]. Indigenous tribes' oral histories and lore do not support the speculation that ancient North American civilizations domesticated the tapir for transportation. However, it must be remembered the the Book of Mormon claims to be a record of the Nephite people, who were completely exterminated, and that the remaining peoples, the Lamanites, were not the same people that would have written of horses in the Americas. While it would follow that there could exist some cultural artifact of tapir domestication in indigenous lore, it should not be expected that indigenous people would necessarily have domesticated the tapir as well, as the Nephites and the Lamanites were two different and distinct cultures. It is however, indisputable, that tapirs can be tamed and domesticated if captured when young, and refuse to breed in captivity.[3]

Tapirs appear in the initial section of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." The first section of the movie, entitled "The Dawn of Man," is set in the Pleistocene era, and shows Brazilian tapirs grazing in the background. This is inaccurate due to the fact that the scene was set in a desert environment. Tapirs have never been recorded living in any sort of desert, either through live sightings, secondary evidence, or fossil record.

In the 90's animated series "Darkwing Duck", a recurring enemy was a yellow and black tapir named Professor Snout.

On the Playstation 2 videogame "Dark Cloud 2", the mini-boss in the Starlight Canyon area was an extremely obese tapir called the "Memo-Eater", who was causing Lin's amnesia until that point. They also appear as less important enemies in Mt.Gundor, Moonflower Palace, and Zelmite Mine.

In Pokémon, the character Drowzee resembles a tapir and is said to eat dreams.

In the Digimon, Tapirmon is modeled after a Tapir.

Notes

  1. ^ Pictures of T. bairdii x T. terrestris cross taken by Sheryl Todd, The Tapir Gallery, web site of the Tapir Preservation Fund
  2. ^ Gorog, A. 2001. Tapirus terrestris, Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 19, 2006
  3. ^ Witmer, Lawrence, Scott D. Sampson, and Nikos Solounias. “The proboscis of tapirs (Mammalia: Perissodactyla): a case study in novel narial anatomy”. Journal of Zoology, 1999, The Zoological Society of London; page 251
  4. ^ Witmer, page 249
  5. ^ Colbert, Dr. Matthew, 2002, "Tapirus terrestris" (On-line), Digital Morphology. Accessed June 20, 2006
  6. ^ Ballenger, L. and P. Myers. 2001. "Tapiridae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 20, 2006
  7. ^ Huffman, Brent. Order Perissodactyla at Ultimate Ungulate
  8. ^ "PERISSODACTYLA." LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia
  9. ^ Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Diversity of Cheek Teeth. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed June 20, 2006
  10. ^ Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Basic Structure of Cheek Teeth. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed June 20, 2006
  11. ^ Tapirs Described, the Tapir Gallery
  12. ^ Janssen, Donald L., DVM, Dipl ACZM, Bruce A. Rideout, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVP, Mark E. Edwards, PhD. "Medical Management of Captive Tapirs (Tapirus sp.)." 1996 American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Proceedings. Nov 1996. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Pp. 1-11
  13. ^ Ashley, M.V., Norman, J.E. and Stross, L.: "Phylogenetic analysis of the perissodactylan family tapiridae using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COII) sequences." Mammal Evolution. 3:315-326, 1996.
  14. ^ Woodland Park Zoo Animal Fact Sheet: Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus)
  15. ^ "Wildfacts" sheet on the Brazilian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris),'' BBC Science and Nature
  16. ^ Morris, Dale. “Face to face with big nose.” BBC Wildlife, March 2005, page 37.
  17. ^ Morris, page 36.
  18. ^ TPF News, Tapir Preservation Fund, Vol. 4, No. 7, July 2001. See section on study by Charles Foerster.
  19. ^ Houck, M.L., S.C. Kingswood, A.T. Kumamoto. “Comparative cytogenetics of tapirs, genus Tapirus (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae). Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics 2000; 89: 110-115 (DOI: 10.1159/000015587)
  20. ^ Mountain Tapir Conservation at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
  21. ^ "Woman's arm bitten off in zoo attack", Associated Press report by Jay Hughes, 20 Nov 1998
  22. ^ "Lost Costa Rica minister found with tapir bite", Reuters, 23 Apr 2006 01:11:51 GMT
  23. ^ Goudot, Justin. "Nouvelles observations sur le Tapir Pinchaque (Recent Observations on the Tapir Pinchaque)," Comptes Rendus, Paris 1843, vol. xvi, pages 331-334. Available online with English translation by Tracy Metz. Report contains accounts of wild Mountain Tapirs shying away from human contact at salt deposits after being hunted, and hiding underwater while being attacked rather than displaying aggression.
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