NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA GOLDMAN SI 



Genus TAPIRELLA Palmer. Tapirs 



The genus Tapir ella ranges in the tropical parts of Middle America 

 from eastern Panama northward to southern Mexico. Generic dis- 

 tinction is found in the differing arrangement of the bony parts 

 supporting the proboscis, as compared with the other genera of the 

 family. The nasals are flat, triangular bones without the stout 

 descending processes which in Tapir us of South America meet and 

 overlap the maxillae ; the maxillae are developed upward in thin 

 vertical plates which embrace an anterior ossified extension of the 

 mesethmoid, absent in Tapirus and in the Asiatic member of the 

 group, Acrocodia. 



TAPIRELLA BAIRDII (Gill) 



Baird's Tapir; Danta 



Elasmognathus bairdii Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1865, p. 183. 

 Type from Isthmus of Panama. 



Baird's tapir is still a rather common animal in the forests of the 

 Canal Zone and of the republic in general ; and it ranges from sea 

 level to at least 5,000 feet altitude on the mountains. The species 

 was described from the " Isthmus of Panama " and specimens from 

 the Canal Zone are, therefore, typical. 



Dampier's (1698, Vol. 2, p. 102) early account of the habits of 

 the animal, which he never saw himself, seems to refer in part to 

 Baird's tapir in Panama. He says : " This Creature is always found 

 in the Woods near some large River ; and feeds on a sort of long thin 

 Grass, or Moss, which grows plentifully on the Banks of Rivers ; but 

 never feeds in Savannahs, or Pastures of good Grass, as all other 

 Bullocks do. When her Belly is full, she lies down to sleep by the 

 Brink of the River; and at the least Noise slips into the Water; 

 where sinking down to the Bottom, tho' very deep, she walks as on 

 dry Ground. She cannot run fast, therefore never rambles far from 

 the River; for there she always takes Sanctuary, in case of danger. 

 There is no shooting of her but when she is asleep. They are found, 

 besides this place [Campeche], in the Rivers in the Bay of Honduras ; 

 and on all the Main from thence as high as the River of Darien. 

 Several of my Consorts have kill'd them there, and knew their 

 Track, which I myself saw in the Isthmus of Darien; but should not 

 have known it, but as I was told by them. For I never did see one, 

 nor the Track of any but once." 



The occurrence of the tapir in the Canal Zone was noted by Maack 

 (1874, p. 171) who records it as living especially in the lowlands 



