FOOD OF VARIOUS ANIMALS AND BIRDS 
biscuit, grain consisting of oats, barley, Indian corn, etc. 
In using such grain as barley, it is better to boil it. 
Indian corn should never be used unless it has been 
broken or boiled, otherwise there is great danger of its 
germinating in the animal’s stomach ; an instance of this 
kind occurred, to my knowledge : the animal having 
swallowed the Indian corn without crushing it, the seed 
germinating in the stomach of the rhinoceros killed him. 
TAPIES. 
By no means easily kept in good health. These 
animals are subject to several disorders, and quickly go 
wrong ; if by chance their bowels become much relaxed, 
they have protrusion of the gut, and exactly the same 
misfortune occurs if they are constipated. It is therefore 
of the utmost importance that the food must be varied, 
and a careful watch kept as to the condition of the bowels. 
The tapir doubtless feeds upon fresh growing plants, 
and is always found near fresh-water rivers and streams, 
rarely about lakes. Now as it is quite impossible to obtain 
these plants at certain times of the year, recourse must 
be had to a variety of other kinds of food at all times 
attainable. Of these we take boiled rice, boiled potatoes, 
mangold, carrots, bread, bran, biscuits, boiled Indian corn, 
hay, clover, straw, chaff, bruised oats, beans, treacle, sugar ; 
green food, such as grass, cabbage-leaves, and small 
branches of trees. 
From this stock a quantity can be selected and mixed 
so as to suit the taste and inclination of the animal. 
Sometimes one will not touch the same kind of food on 
which another will feed freely and do well ; therefore it is 
difficult to say what is the exact kind of food for a tapir. 
Some fresh-caught tapirs do very well on yams or sweet 
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