1021 



TAPIRUS. 



TAPIRUS. 



1022 



Malay Tapir (Tapir Malaynnui}. 



The colour of the individual dissected by Mr. Yarrell was rusty , 

 reddish-brown, with indications of lighter spots and horizontal lines 

 on the ribs, flanks, and thighs. " These fawn-coloured spots and 

 stripes," says Mr. Yarrell, "are common to both species of Tapir 

 [the Sumatran and the American species then known are meant] 

 while young ; that of Sumatra not exhibiting till it is six months 

 old any appearance of the well-defined black and white colour which 

 afterwards distinguishes the adult animal." ('ZooL Journ.,' vol iv.) 



This species is a native of South America. " Few animals of equal 

 size," says Mr. Bennett, " have so extensive a range as the American 

 Tapir. It ia found in every part of South America to the east of the 

 Andes, from the Straits of Magellan to the Isthmus of Darien ; but 

 appears to be most common within the tropics. M. Roulin dwells 

 upon it as a singular fact that although it occurs as far as 40" south 

 of the equator, it ceases suddenly at about 8 north, in a situation 

 where it is extremely abundant, and where no adequate cause has 

 yet been assigned to bar its further progress, no large rivers nor lofty 

 mountains intervening, nor any change in the character of the vegeta- 

 tion of the country being manifest. The left bank of the Atrato near 

 its mouth, and the part of Darien inhabited by the independent 

 Indians, may be considered as its northern limit. Its highest range, in 

 the province of Maraquita at least, appears to be from 3000 to 3600 

 feet above the level of the sea, while the new species discovered by 

 M. Roulin is only met with at a much greater elevation." 



The inmost recesses of deep forests are the chosen haunts of this 

 species, which is not gregarious, and flies from the proximity of man. 

 It is for the most part nocturnal in its habits, sleeping or remaining 

 quiet during the day, and at nrght seeking its food, which, in its 

 natural state, consists of shoots of trees, buds, wild fruits, &c. If we 

 are to believe D'Azara, and he was an accurate observer, it is very 

 fond of the barr<!ro, or nitrous earth of Paraguay. It is however a 

 most indiscriminate swallower of everything filthy or clean, nutritious 

 or otherwise, as the farrago found in the stomach of the individual 

 dissected by Mr. Yarrell showed. Pieces of wood, clay, pebbles, and 

 bones are not unfrequently taken out of the stomachs or those which 

 are killed in the woods ; and one kept by D'Azara gnawed a silver 

 snuff-box to pieces and swallowed the contents. 



It is a powerful animal, and everything in the underwood of the 

 forest gives way to its rush. It is in the habit of making runs or 

 roads through the brushwood, and these beaten tracks are usually 

 selected by travellers in passing through the forests. 



Quiet and peaceable in its demeanour, it is hunted for the sake of its 

 tough hide and its flesh, which, though not liked by the European (for 

 it is coarse and dry), is relished by the unsophisticated palate of the 

 Indian. 



The lasso is not often employed in its capture, not only from its 

 haunts being generally unfavourable to that mode of hunting, but 

 because its determined rush and strength will at a single effort snap 

 the line which is strong enough to arrest the career of a bull The 

 hunteri will sometimes lie in wait with their dogs near a Tapir's road 



as evening approaches, and so get between him and the water to which 

 he usually directs his course for the purpose of bathing and wallowing 

 at the commencement of his nocturnal career. He makes a good fight, 

 and inflicts severe wounds upon the dogs with his teeth, especially if 

 he can reach the water, where he stands at bay, breast deep, and defies 

 the fiercest of them ; for as they are compelled to swim to the attack, 

 the Tapir bides his time, and seizing them by the backs of their 

 necks as they successively come within his reach, shakes them off, 

 not without biting a piece out. 



But it would seem that the most common method of catching them 

 is by imitating their sharp but not very shrill whistle, and thus bringing 

 them within shot of the Indian's poisoned arrow. 



Lieut. Maw, who brought a young animal of this species to England, 

 speaks of it as feeding upon herbs and the branches of trees, and going 

 much into the water, walking along or rather perhaps across the 

 bottoms of rivers. 



This species is mild in captivity, and easily domesticated. Sonnini 

 states that tame Tapirs are permitted to go at liberty through the streets 

 of the towns of Guyana, and to wander into the woods, whence they 

 return in the evening to the house where they are kept and fed. He 

 adds that they are capable of attachment to their owner, and expresses 

 his opinion that care and attention might convert its qualities of 

 strength, docility, and patience, to account as a beast of burden. 



American Tapir (Tapina Americamu). 



But this is not the only American Tapir ; for M. Roulin laid before 

 the French Academy a description and figures of a new species in- 

 habiting the mountainous parts of the same districts, the plains of 

 which are frequented by the other; and his account is given in the 

 ' Anuales des Sciences Naturelles :' from this it would appear that the 

 American Tapir of the mountains is more nearly allied to the Asiatic 

 species than the American Tapir of the plains. 



The Tapirs are closely allied in structure to the fossil genus Palao- 



