MAMMALIA 



105 



digit dominates over the rest and is symmetrical in itself, con- 

 tinuing the direction of the limb-axis. 



I. The Tapirs in general appearance are not unlike large pigs, 

 but the symmetry of the feet is quite different, and so is the 

 number of the toes, there being four on the front, and three on the 

 hind foot, all provided with hoofs. A pig has four toes on every 

 foot. The snout is drawn out into a short proboscis, which 



Fig 73 — The Brazilian Tapir or Anta {Tapirus Amencanus) 



suggests what the incipient proboscis of the ancestors of elephants 

 was probably like. Tapirs present a remarkable case of the 

 phenomenon known as " discontinuous distribution ", where a 

 species or some larger group inhabits two or more areas more 

 or less remote from one another, while it is absent from the 

 intermediate space. In this instance the disconnected areas are 

 South and Central America on the one hand, and the Malay 

 region on the other. The species commonly seen in zoological 

 gardens is the Brazilian Tapir {Tapiriis Americanus) (fig. 73). 



2. Rhinoceroses are huge clumsy - looking animals of little 

 intelligence and surly disposition. The massive head, borne on 

 a short thick neck, is characterized by its small eyes, oval erect 

 ears, and one or two unpaired horns on the upper side of the snout. 

 It is indeed the possession of such a horn which is the most 



