Tapirs are bulky mammals with trunk-like snouts that live in the rainforests of Central and South America and Southeast Asia. They are odd-toed ungulates, the group of plant-eating mammals that includes horses and rhinoceroses. There are four species: the Brazilian, Malayan, Baird's and mountain tapir. Tapirs average about 2 metres (6.6 feet) in length and 1 metre (3 feet) in height. Their hooves are splayed (split and spread out), which helps them to walk on the soft rainforest floor. They have thick skin on the backs of their necks to protect them from predators such as jaguars and crocodiles.

Lifestyle

Excellent swimmers, tapirs spend a lot of time in the water. They wallow in rainforest rivers and streams to cool off or dive feed on water plants. Their trunk-like snouts—extensions of the nose and upper lip—are perfect for gripping and plucking leaves or fruit from branches. They are mainly active at night, emerging to feed around dusk. Tapirs are solitary creatures; they usually travel alone through the rainforest along well-worn paths they have themselves created.

Malayan tapir

The Malayan tapir lives in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, mainly along the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The biggest of all the tapirs, it can grow up to 1.8 metres (about 6 feet) in length. Its distinctive markings—black head, neck and legs, with a large white saddle extending from its shoulders to its rump—probably help camouflage it: it looks like a large rock when lying on the ground. As a result of deforestation, the Malayan tapir is in danger of extinction.