THE TAPIR 



139 



to shoot a tapir has only to lie in wait in a convenient hiding- 

 place near the water's edge. 



Unless it is driven to bay the tapir is a very timid animal, 

 and is far more ready to run away than to fight. Trusting to 

 its great weight, and the thickness and toughness of its skin, its 

 first idea when attacked is to make for the densest part of the 



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Brazilian Tapir 



forest, through which it forces its way as easily as if the creepers 

 were made of packthread and the bushes of straw. To follow 

 it when once it has entered a thicket is quite impossible, so the 

 hunter has to be very careful to kill it, or at any rate to wound 

 it severely, with his first bullet. 



If it should find flight impossible, however, the animal will 

 fight fiercely, and sometimes inflicts most severe wounds with 

 its sharp and powerful teeth. 



The natives of South America sometimes capture the tapir 



