Game Animals of India, etc. 



while the cheek-teeth present a pattern totally distinct 

 from that found in rhinoceroses. Tapirs have the tail 

 short, the ears of medium size and oval shape, small, 

 pig-like eyes, and short, sparse hair. 



The Malay species, which is the largest of the group, 

 is readily distinguished from all its South American 

 cousins by the parti-coloured hide of the adult ; the 

 head, limbs, and front part of the body being dark 

 brown or black, while all that portion of the body 

 situated behind the shoulders, including the rump and 

 the upper part of the thighs, together with the tips of 

 the ears, is greyish white or white in the adult. In 

 very young animals, on the other hand, that is to say, 

 those not exceeding from four to six months in age, the 

 ground-colour is blackish brown or black, marked (as in 

 the young of the American species) with longitudinal 

 streaks of yellow on the head and sides and of white on 

 the under- parts. The hair, too, is markedly denser 

 than in the full-grown animal. In height an adult 

 Malay tapir stands from 3 to 3^ feet at the withers and 

 about 4 inches more at the rump ; the length from the 

 tip of the snout to the root of the tail, measured along 

 the curves of the body, being about 8 feet. 



The geographical distribution of this animal includes 

 the island of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and 

 thence northwards into the Tenasserim province about 

 as far as the fifteenth parallel of north latitude. 



In its wild state, little or nothing authentic has been 

 ascertained with rep;ard to the mode of life of the 

 Malay tapir ; and the writer is unacquainted with any 

 account of the chase of this animal by European 

 sportsmen. Its habits, are, however, in all probability 

 very similar to those of the American representatives 

 of the genus. These latter are shy and retiring 

 animals, dwelling amid thick jungle in the neighbour- 

 hood of water, to which they take readily. Between 

 the years 1840 and 1896 seven examples of the 

 Malay tapir were exhibited in the Menagerie of the 



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