The Malay Tapir 



an individual then living in the menagerie of the 

 Governor-General of India at Barrackpur, although he 

 omitted to assign to the Oriental species a distinctive 

 name. 



This discovery revealed the fact that while tapirs are 

 common to the Malay countries and South and Central 

 America, they are found at the present day in no other 

 part of the world. Were it not for the investigations 

 into the past history of our globe, we should have been 

 at a loss to explain such a remarkable instance of dis- 

 continuous distribution ; but we now know that in 

 past epochs these animals were distributed over a 

 considerable portion of the northern hemisphere, whence 

 they wandered southwards to their present widely 

 sundered dwelling-places. 



Although Ri Asia, at any rate, animals that seldom 

 come under the ken of the sportsman in their wild 

 condition, tapirs have been made tamiliar to the public 

 trom specimens exhibited in menageries and museums. 

 In size they may be compared to heavily-built and 

 short-limbed donkeys, but from their comparatively 

 bare skins, general shape, and long flexible snouts, they 

 present a superficial resemblance to large swine, with 

 which group many persons are inclined to associate 

 them. An examination of their feet, in which one 

 toe is much larger than either of the others, and 

 symmetrical in itself, is, however, sufficient to show the 

 incorrectness of this idea, and to indicate that their 

 relationship is with rhinoceroses. 



Unlike the latter animals, tapirs have, however, four 

 toes on the front feet, although on the hind-feet the 

 number is three in both groups. From rhinoceroses 

 they are likewise distinguished by the production of the 

 nose and upper lip into a short, mobile proboscis, or 

 trunk. The teeth, too, are very different, both in 

 number and form, from those of rhinoceroses ; the 

 total number being forty-two. Both jaws are furnished 

 with a full set of incisors, or " nippers," and tusks ; 



41 



