THE AMERICAN TAPIR. 



607 



black mane. The Tapir can easily be brought under the subjection of man, and is readily 

 tamed, becoming unpleasantly familiar with those persons whom it knows, and taking all 

 kinds of liberties with them, which would be well enough in a little dog or a kitten, but are 

 quite out of place with an animal as large as a donkey. 



The Tapir family, Tapiridce, has two groups or genera, and six species are enumerated. 

 For a long time only two were known, the East Indian and the American. Lately, several 

 species have been discovered in South America ; these were all found in the Andes of New 

 Grenada, and Ecuador. A species has also been found in Central America. 



AMEKICAN TAPIR. Taptrus ttmttrii. 



The common American Tapir ( Tapirus terrestris) is found in all parts of South America. 

 It is regarded as the largest of South American mammals, measuring sometimes six feet from 

 the snout to the end of the tail. It is nocturnal in habit. Selecting a mate, it lives in pairs 

 during most of the time. 



Baird's Tapir (Elasmognathus bairdi) is a late discovery in Central America. The specific 

 characters are, a very short fur, close, and dark-brown in color, or nearly black. The lower 

 parts of the cheeks and sides of the neck are a bay-brown ; the chin, throat, chest, and front 

 edge of shoulders, a grayish-white. 



Like the young of other species of Tapir, the yoiang of this are striped curiously with 

 white, giving an aspect not unlike that of the zebra. This is the only species of the 

 genus known. It is native of the Isthmus of Panama, and extends northward to Mexico. 

 It is regarded as larger than other American species. A variety has been described 

 as a species, and called E. dowi, in honor of Captain Dow, a clever collector of Cali- 

 fornia. 



Tapirs were common in this country in Eocene time, as well as in other countries. The 

 extinct forms of family Lophiodontidce are allied to them. 



