272 



HOOFED ANIMALS 



eighty-nine in a season ; and in the same short period sixty 

 fell to C. ]. Andersonn's gun alone. The White Rhinoceros 

 is on the verge of extinction in South Africa, but here and 

 there a few are very strictly preserved. Only a few years 

 ago a native chief was heavily fined for permitting one to 

 be killed in a preserved area. In Central Africa, however, 

 there is little fear that the Rhinoceros will disappear for 

 many long years to come. 



FAMILY TAPIRID^E (TAPIRS). 



The small group of animals which are called Tapirs look 

 as if they had wandered into this world from among the 

 extinct animals of antediluvian times. Their peculiar 

 contour cannot be mistaken. The smooth-skinned hog- 

 like body, with a pointed, conical head, produced into a 

 short, flexible proboscis, seems to suggest that they form 

 a link with the elephant. They are semi-aquatic animals, 

 living in the neighbourhood of large rivers. They spend 



much time in the water, and 

 are said to be able to walk 

 along the bottom. They are 

 mostly nocturnal in habit, 

 coming out of their retreats at 

 night to feed on leaves and 

 fruits. The elongated snout is 

 of particular service as a kind of 

 hook in pulling down boughs or 

 fruits. In disposition the ani- 

 mal is naturally shy, timid, and 

 inoffensive, but when attacked 

 it will fight desperately. The 



American Tapirs are generally of a dark brown colour ; the 

 Malayan species has the upper part of the body white from 

 the withers to the tail, with the remainder of the body nearly 

 black. It looks exactly as if some one had played a prac- 

 tical joke upon it with a whitewash brush. Strangely 

 enough, the young Tapirs, until they are five or six months 

 old, are marked with longitudinal, fawn-coloured stripes, 

 and rows of yellowish spots on the back and sides. 



FORE (A) AND HIND (fi) FOOT 

 OF THE TAPIR. 



