THE TAPIR. 5 7 



THE TAPIR, 



IN THE ROYAL MENAGERY, TOWER OF LONDON. 



The tapir belongs to the order Belluae, of which it forms the third genus. It is called by the Por- 

 tuguese anta, by others elan and sus aquations, and in the tenth edition of the Linnaean system, it is 

 styled the hippopotamus terrestris. Its generic characters are ten cutting-teeth in both jaws ; the canine 

 ones single and bent ; five broad grinders on each side of both jaws. The fore-feet have four hoofs 

 or toes, whereas the hind-feet have only three ; the tail very short ; the ears erect and oval, bordered 

 with white ; the eyes small ; the nose extending far beyond the lower jaw, slender, and forming, in 

 the male, a sort of proboscis capable of being contracted or extended at pleasure. The sides are sul- 

 cated. The nose of the female is destitute of this proboscis, and the jaws are of equal length. This 

 circumstance is however doubted by Sonnini. 



Similar to an overgrown hog, this quadruped is commonly about six feet in length, and three and a 

 half in height. When young, it is spotted with white; but when old, it is of a brown dusky colour. 

 The hairs in the back are remarkably close, short, and fine ; and those of the mane are black and stiff, 

 and about an inch and a half long. 



It lives in thick woods on the eastern side of South America, from the isthmus of Darien to the river 

 of the Amazons. It sleeps, during the day, in the thickest and darkest forests adjacent to the banks, and 

 goes out in the night-time in search of food. It feeds on vegetables, and is particularly fond of the 

 stalks of the sugar-cane and fruits. If disturbed, it takes to the water ; it swims very well, or it sinks 

 below, and, like the hippopotamus, walks on the bottom as on dry ground. 



The tapir is of a very mild nature, and capable of being made very tame. In Guiana it is some- 

 times kept and fed with other domestic beasts in the farm-yard. It feeds itself with its nose, making 

 use of it as the rhinoceros does its upper lip. It knows its master, who brings it its food, and will 

 take any thing that, is offered to it. It will often rummage the pockets of strangers with its nose for 

 meat. Its common attitude is sitting on its rump like a hog. Notwithstanding its mild nature, 

 Gumilla says, that, if attacked, it will make a vigorous resistance, and scarcely ever fails to tear off the 

 skin from the dogs they get hold of. 



The natives of the country where the tapir is common eat its flesh, which by some travellers is 

 represented as very palatable, and by others as scarcely eatable. The Indians shoot it with poisoned 

 arrows, and cut the skin into bucklers. It is very salacious, slow-footed, and sluggish, and makes a 

 kind of hissing noise when attacked. 



Monsieur Bajon, a surgeon at Cayenne, communicated some very good observations on this animal 

 to the French Academy of Sciences. On opening this animal, he says, the first thing that struck me 

 was that it was a ruminating animal, though the feet and teeth have no analogy with those of other 

 ruminating animals, yet the tapir has three receptacles or stomachs, which are commonly full, and 

 especially the first, which is filled like a balloon. This stomach answers to the first stomach of the ox, 

 but here the cancellated or honeycomb part is not distinct, but the two parts form one cavity. The 

 second or next stomach is the plaited or laminated one, which is also very considerable, and much 

 resembles that of an ox, with this difference, that the laminae or plaits are much smaller, and the coats 

 much thinner. Lastly, the third stomach is the least, and the thinnest, and has only simple ruga; in 



