classification: Tapirs make up the genus Tapirus and the family Tapiridae in the order Perissodactyla.
Introduction
Tapir are ungulate mammal with a bulky body, short legs, a short tail, and a head characterized by a short, flexible proboscis, small eyes, and erect ears. The animals live in dense forests and grassy areas of Central and South America and Asia. When tapirs are threatened, tapir baby they flee to the water or into dense underbrush for safety; their squeal seems to be a means of communication with other members of the family group in the thick foliage of the rain forest. They feed on leaves, fruit, and other vegetation.
Physical characteristics
The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible organ, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit the flehmen response, a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth to detect scents. This response is frequently exhibited by bulls sniffing for signs of other males or females inoestrus in the area. The length of the proboscis varies among species; tapir baby Malayan tapirs have the longest snouts and Brazilian tapirs have the shortest. The evolution of tapir probosces, made up almost entirely of soft tissues rather than bony internal structures, gives the Tapiridae skull a unique form in comparison to other perissodactyls, with a larger sagittal crest, orbitspositioned more rostrally, a posteriorly telescoped cranium, and a more elongated and retracted nasoincisive incisure.
Lifecycle
Young tapirs reach sexual maturity between three and five years of age, with females maturing earlier than males. Under good conditions, a healthy female tapir can reproduce every two years; tapir baby, a single young, called a calf, is born after a gestation of about 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is about 25 to 30 years, both in the wild and in zoos. Apart from mothers and their young offspring, tapirs lead almost exclusively solitary lives.
Habitat and vulnerability
habitat loss has resulted in the conservation watch-listing of all four species: both the Brazilian tapir and the Malayan tapir are classified as vulnerable; tapir baby and the Baird’s tapir and the mountain tapir are endangered.
Conservation
A number of conservation projects have been started around the world. The Tapir Specialist Group, a unit of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, strives to conserve biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and executing practical programs to study, save, tapir baby restore, and manage the four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia.