Common Tapir 387 



Schomburgk its title in British Guiana is Maipuri. Although by no means 

 the tallest, tapirs are some of the largest wild South American mammals. 



All the five existing species of tapir appear to be very similar to 

 one another in their general habits, so that one account will serve tor 

 all. As already mentioned, they are shy, retiring creatures, haunting the 

 most sequestered depths of the tropical forests ; and since they are likewise 

 mainly nocturnal, it follows that they are but seldom seen, unless when 

 drinking, when accidentally disturbed from their lairs, or when driven 

 from the same by hounds. Their food varies to a certain extent in 

 different districts and according to the time of year, consisting in some 

 cases of palm-leaves, in others of fiillen fruits, and in others of water- 

 plants ; while in cultivated districts toll is taken of sugar-cane and other 

 crops. The comparatively simple structure of the cheek-teeth ot tapirs 

 is adapted to the mastication of a mixed vegetable diet like the above 

 rather than for chewing grass ; grazing animals, such as horses, oxen, 

 and antelopes, having a more complicated type of molar dentition. Among 

 the wild fruits most commonly eaten by tapirs are those of the passion- 

 plant and of various members ot the cucumber tamily. 



The immediate neighbourhood of a large body of water, in which they 

 can disport themselves, seems absolutely essential to the existence ot these 

 animals ; and in localities where they are more or less abundant regular 

 beaten tracks lead down from the heart of the forest to the rivers along 

 which they pass and repass on their daily journeys to and trom their 

 drinking-places. It is at these spots that the traveller by canoe or boat on 

 the great South American rivers is most likely to obtain a glimpse of these 

 animals as they come to the bank at early dawn. The feeding-time of 

 tapirs usually commences about sunset, and probably continues throughout 

 the night. As a rule not more than three individuals are to be met with 

 in company ; and, except in the pairing-season, the old males lead a solitary 

 existence. 



