TAPIRS. 



459 



the depths of shady forests and the neighbourhood of water, to which they frequently 

 resort for the purpose of bathing, and in which they often take refuge when 

 pursued. They feed on various vegetable substances, as shoots of trees and bushes, 

 buds and leaves." 



The Malayan tapir (T. indicus) is the largest of the whole group, 

 and differs from all the others in its parti-coloured skin. In height 

 this animal stands from 3 to 3J feet at the withers, and about 4 inches more at the 

 rump, its length along the curves from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail 

 being about 8 feet. In the adult the colour of the head and front of the body, as 

 well as the limbs, is dark brown or black, while the body from behind the shoulders 

 to the rump and the upper part of the thighs is greyish white, as are also the ears. 

 On the other hand, the newly-born young are brownish or velvety black, marked 

 with spots and longitudinal streaks of brownish yellow on the sides, and of white 

 beneath ; the change from the young to the adult coloration taking place, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Blanford, between four and six months after birth. 



The Malayan tapir is found in the peninsula from which it takes its name, 

 extending northwards to Tenasserim, and it also occurs in the island of Sumatra, 

 and perhaps in Borneo. Although one of its skulls had been sent to the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal in Calcutta as far back as the year 1806, it was not till Diard 

 in 1817 sent to Cuvier a portrait and description of a specimen then living in the 

 viceroy's menagerie in Barrakpur, near Calcutta, that it was recognised in Europe 

 as a distinct species. Apart from a notice by Wahlfeldt in 1772, Sir Stamford 

 Raffles had, however, knowledge of the creature's existence in 1805, and in 1816 

 Major Farquhar sent a description of the animal to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



Owing to its retiring nature, the Malayan tapir is but seldom seen in its 

 native haunts, and our information as to its habits is consequently meagre in the 

 extreme. Indeed, nothing is known as to its breeding-habits, although it seems to 

 be ascertained that but one young is produced at a birth. Mr. Mason writes that, 

 " though seen so rarely, the tapir is by no means uncommon in the interior of the 

 Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have frequently come upon its recent footmarks, 

 but it avoids the inhabited parts of the country." When taking to the water, it is 

 reported to plunge in and walk along the bottom, instead of swimming. In spite 

 of its shy and retiring habits, this tapir, if captured at a sufficiently early period, 

 can be readily tarried, and is said to exhibit considerable attachment to its master. 

 Of the New World tapirs the best known species is the common 

 'South American tapir (T. americamus), originally described by Linnaeus 

 as a terrestrial species of hippopotamus. In common with the other American 

 kinds, the adult is of a uniform dark brown or blackish colour, although the young 

 are striped and spotted after the manner of the Asiatic species. The snout is 

 shorter than in the latter, the hinder part of the head more elevated, and the crown 

 of the head and neck furnished with a short, stiff, upright mane. The margins of 

 the ears are white. This species inhabits the forest-districts of Brazil, Paraguay, and 

 the northern part of Argentina, The second member of this group is Roulin's tapir 

 (T. roulini), which is a mountain species inhabiting the Cordilleras of Ecuador and 

 Colombia at an elevation of from seven thousand to eight thousand feet above the 

 sea, and locally known as the pinchaque. It has a less vaulted skull and a rounder 



