TAPIRS. 
459 
Malayan Tapir. 
the depths of shady forests and the neighbourhood of water, to which they frequently 
resort for the purpose of bathing, and in which they often take refuge when 
pursued. They feed on various vegetable substances, as shoots of trees and bushes, 
buds and leaves.” 
The Malayan tapir ( T . indicus ) is the largest of the whole group, 
and differs from all the others in its parti-coloured skin. In height 
this animal stands from 3 to 34 feet at the withers, and about 4 inches more at the 
rump, its length along the curves from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail 
being about 8 feet. In the adult the colour of the head and front of the body, as 
well as the limbs, is dark brown or black, while the body from behind the shoulders 
to the rump and the upper part of the thighs is greyish white, as are also the ears. 
On the other hand, the newly-born young are brownish or velvety black, marked 
with spots and longitudinal streaks of brownish yellow on the sides, and of white 
beneath; the change from the young to the adult coloration taking place, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Blanford, between four and six months after birth. 
The Malayan tapir is found in the peninsula from which it takes its name, 
extending northwards to Tenasserim, and it also occurs in the island of Sumatra, 
and perhaps in Borneo. Although one of its skulls had been sent to the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal in Calcutta as far back as the year 1806, it was not till Diard 
in 1817 sent to Cuvier a portrait and description of a specimen then living in the 
viceroy’s menagerie in Barrakpur, near Calcutta, that it was recognised in Europe 
as a distinct species. Apart from a notice by Wahlfeldt in 1772, Sir Stamford 
Baffles had, however, knowledge of the creature’s existence in 1805, and in 1816 
Major Farquhar sent a description of the animal to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 
Owing to its retiring nature, the Malayan tapir is but seldom seen in its 
native haunts, and our information as to its habits is consequently meagre in the 
extreme. Indeed, nothing is known as to its breeding-habits, although it seems to 
be ascertained that but one young is produced at a birth. Mr. Mason writes that, 
“ though seen so rarely, the tapir is by no means uncommon in the interior of the 
Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have frequently come upon its recent footmarks, 
but it avoids the inhabited parts of the country.” When taking to the water, it is 
reported to plunge in and walk along the bottom, instead of swimming. In spite 
of its shy and retiring habits, this tapir, if captured at a sufficiently early period, 
can be readily tamed, and is said to exhibit considerable attachment to its master. 
Of the New World tapirs the best known species is the common 
South American tapir ( T. americcinus), originally described by Linnaeus 
as a terrestrial species of hippopotamus. In common with the other American 
kinds, the adult is of a uniform dark brown or blackish colour, although the young 
are striped and spotted after the manner of the Asiatic species. The snout is 
shorter than in the latter, the hinder part of the head more elevated, and the crown 
of the head and neck furnished with a short, stiff, upright mane. The margins of 
the ears are white. This species inhabits the forest-districts of Brazil, Paraguay, and 
the northern part of Argentina. The second member of this group is Boulin’s tapir 
( T. roulini), which is a mountain species inhabiting the Cordilleras of Ecuador and 
Colombia at an elevation of from seven thousand to eight thousand feet above the 
sea, and locally known as the pinchaque. It has a less vaulted skull and a rounder 
American Tapirs. 
