Game Animals of India, etc. 



months. According to an article by Mr. L. Wray in 

 the Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, 

 the Sumatran rhinoceros is becoming extremely scarce 

 in the Dindings district of the Malay Peninsula, owing 

 to persistent trapping on the part of the natives. The 

 rhinoceroses are caught in deep concealed pitfalls made 

 in their runs ; and the Malays state that fifty individuals 

 have been taken in this way in and near the Dindings 

 alone. Catching and exporting these animals has, 

 indeed, become a regular trade in the district for some 

 years past, with the result that, whereas they were 

 formerly quite common, they are now very scarce and 

 difficult to trap. 



THE MALAY TAPIR 



(^fapirus indicus) 



Native Names. — Tara-shu^ Burmese ; Kuda-ayer and 

 Tennu^ Malay 



(Plate i, fig. 5) 



Tapirs (so called by an abbreviation of the native 

 name of one of the South American species) offer little 

 attraction to the sportsman, since they yield nothing in 

 the way of trophies except their skulls and skins, and 

 the latter are valuable only as leather. Nevertheless, 

 they are animals by no means lacking in interest, if 

 only from the point of view of their remarkable 

 geographical distribution. Although the typical South 

 American tapir was known by repute to the Swiss 

 naturalist Linnasus,who at first described it as a terrestrial 

 species of hippopotamus, but afterwards had doubts as 

 to its very existence, it was not till 18 16 that naturalists 

 were made aware that another species inhabits the 

 jungles of the Malay Peninsula. For this information 

 they were indebted to a Major Farquar, who described 



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