GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS: CONTINENTS 



269 



J^o Tap/rs 



unt/V Plei'skeene. 



FIG. 12.4. Geographic distribution of tapirs. Present range shown in solid black; range 

 during Pleistocene shown in diagonal lines. Arrows radiate from center of dispersal. 

 (From Matthew, Climate and Evolufion, Special Publications of New York Academy of 

 Sciences, Vol. I, 1939, p. 71.) 



mals seems therefore to have been the main part of the Old World and 

 especially the tropical part of it." He concluded that the Old World tropics 

 was also the center of dispersal of fresh-water fishes, amphibians, reptiles, 

 and birds. 



If dispersal from a center is an actuality we should expect to find evi- 

 dence of it in the fossil record. Fortunately that expectation is realized, 

 despite the imperfections of the known portions of the record. From many 

 possible examples we shall cite only two. They are of particular interest 

 since they involve striking examples of discontinuity in the ranges of living 

 animals. 



Tapirs 



The first example is that of tapirs, animals with which most readers are 

 not likely to be familiar. Tapirs are the least specialized of the odd-toed 

 hoofed mammals (Order Perissodactyla); they have four toes on each 



