THE TAPIR 5 



hairy coat, especially at the muzzle, where 

 the hair is thin. 



Of direct ancestors to the horse the earliest 

 known was a little fellow called Hyracotherium, 

 coloured no doubt like the pig or the hairless 

 Mexican dog, and not bigger than a toy terrier. 

 His range extended from England to New 

 Mexico, across the old Atlantic continent. In 

 him the original five toes had been reduced to 

 four on the front foot, and three on the hind, 

 as with the tapir, who is the very portrait of 

 a horse-ancestor, although of larger growth. 



The tapir was ever a staunch conservative 

 preferring death to reform. So he remains, 

 one of the most ancient of all living animals, 

 and relic of the long forgotten ages when the 

 world was one big forest. Nowadays the 

 tapir range which covered all the northern 

 continents has shrunken to three districts 

 widely sundered : Brazil, Mexico, and the 

 Malay Peninsula. In all three he is dying 

 out, and in a few more years will be extinct. 



From the tapir's habits we may reason that 

 the horse ancestors were creatures not only of 

 the deep glades of the forest, but also of closely 

 wooded mountain ranges. They were shy 

 and harmless, feeding at night on buds, leaves 

 and the tender shoots of bushes, not on grass. 



