THE PINCHAQUE TAPIR THE MALAYAN TAPIR 19 



is found in another Central American Tapir (T. dowi], also not remark- 

 able-looking externally, and chiefly notable for peculiarities in the 

 skull. It is strange that these two distinct Tapirs should both occur, 

 apparently together, in a comparatively small area like Central America ; 

 but very little is known about them, though both have been exhibited 

 in the London Gardens, which have possessed all the five known 

 Tapirs except the next species. 



THE PINCHAQUE TAPIR 



(Tapirus roulini) 



OF all the Tapirs this is the most nearly related to the common 

 South American species, having no special peculiarity of the nasal 

 division and a plain brown coat. This is, however, much thicker and 

 closer than in the ordinary Tapir, and the chin is white. The thick 

 furry nature of the coat is to be accounted for by the habits of the 

 species, this being strictly a mountain animal, inhabiting a temperate 

 climate, for it is confined to the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, 

 where it ranges up to eight thousand feet, and appears not to 

 descend into the plains. 



THE MALAYAN TAPIR 



(Tapirus indicus) 



THE Tapirs afford an interesting example of what naturalists call 

 "discontinuous distribution," four out of the five species, as we have 

 seen, being American, while the other inhabits so remote a region as 

 the Malay peninsula and its adjacent islands, ranging as far east as the 

 island of Borneo. The explanation of this is that Tapirs had formerly 

 a wider range, since extinct species are found fossil in Tertiary strata 

 in Europe and China as well as in North America ; for some reason 

 or other they have failed to maintain their existence in the North. 

 The Malay Tapir is the most remarkable in appearance of all ; it 



