404 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Family TAPIRIDAE: Tapirs 



ROULIN'S TAPIR; MOUNTAIN TAPIR; "HAIRY TAPIR" 

 TAPIRUS ROULINII Fischer 



Tapirus roulinii Fischer, Synopsis Mammalium, Addenda, p. 602, 1830 ("Summos 



monies Andes Americae australis")- 

 SYNONYMS: Tapirus villosus Wagler, Syst. des Amphib., p. 17, 1830; Tapirus pinchacus 



Blainville, Osteograph., Unguligrades, Genus Tapirus, pi. 3, fig., 1845; Tapirus 



leucogenys and enigmaticus Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 488, 490 



(Assuay and Sufiac, Ecuador). 

 FIGS.: Gray, 1872a, pi. 21, fig. 1; pi. 22, fig.l (col. fig. of young and subadult) ; Sclater, 



1878, pi. 39 (col., adult); Hatcher, 1896, pi. 4, figs. 2, 2a; pi. 5, fig. 2 (skull). 



Very little seems to be known of the habits and present 

 status of this tapir of the northern Andes. It was first brought 

 to the notice of naturalists by M. Roulin, who communicated 

 to Baron Cuvier an account of the animal, which was published 

 by Cuvier in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles in 1829 and 

 further elaborated by Roulin in the following year in the same 

 journal. Roulin gave the tapir a French name, "Tapir pinch- 

 aque" from the name used by the native Indians to denote a 

 fictitious monster, but the Latin form was not used. In 1830, 

 both Fischer in the supplement to his Synopsis Mammalium 

 and Wagler in his System des Amphibiens, etc., proposed new 

 Latin names based on Roulin's description, but since it is not 

 evident which had precedence, it seems better to follow Thomas 

 (1880) in adopting Fischer's name, which commemorates the 

 discoverer of the species. 



This tapir does not apparently differ in size from the lowland 

 species of the Amazon Valley, which is about as large as a pony. 

 The hair, contrary to the usual belief, is said by Sclater (1878) 

 to be rather short, the individual hairs about an inch long, and 

 the color nearly uniform black, shading to brownish; outer 

 edge of the ears and a spot at the corner of the mouth white. 

 Iris light bluish hazel, rather than brown as in the lowland 

 tapir. The form of the nasals is very different from that of 

 the latter, being long, and tapering, with concave outer borders. 

 The brain case is shorter and the sagittal crest less high. 

 Measurements given by Roulin are : Tip of snout to tip of tail, 

 5.5 feet; height at shoulder 2 feet 9 inches, but these are per- 

 haps not of a fully adult animal. Greatest length of skull (M. 

 C. Z.), 380 mm.; median length of nasals, 95. 



The home of the mountain tapir seems to include the high- 



