Posted
on April 27, 2014
The
official website for World Tapir Day says, “Regardless
of whether you are a hardcore tapir fan or whether you have only just
discovered the world of tapirs, you will find a wide range of
information on this site about World Tapir Day.”
Man! I love writing about holidays and birthdays and such – I
am always learning something new! Today I learned here are
hardcore tapir fans in the world!!???
Tapirs
are mammals, of course, and herbivores (plant eaters). Of all the
other mammals alive today, they're most closely related to rhinos.
Tapirs
live in rainforests (and sometimes drier sorts of forests) – but in
two very far-flung areas of the globe: Central and South America, and
Southeast Asia. Why are the different species so isolated from one
another? It turns out that tapirs used to live in North America, too,
and much of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe and Asia), but they died
out in those regions. The populations who had crossed from North
America to South America over the Panamanian land bridge (about two
million years ago) have flourished more than their northern cousins.
Right
now there are five species of tapirs, four of which live in Central
and South America.
The
Malayan tapir has such unusual coloration!
(As
you may have guessed, the people who live in the Brazilian rainforest
had long ago “discovered” the kabomani tapir! For one thing,
they've been eating it!)
The
mountain tapir lives in the high “cloud forests” of the Andes
Mountains. This is one of the most endangered tapir species, but they
are all under threat because their habitat, the rainforests, is being
destroyed or “developed.”
The
Baird's tapir is the largest land mammal in Central and South
America. It is about six and a half feet long (2 m) and almost four
feet high (1.2 m). It weighs from 330 to 880 pounds (150-400 kg).
Ooooh! Aren't baby tapirs cute?
Gosh, no wonder there are hardcore tapir fans!
I
read that the “proboscis” (or snout, or short trunk) only evolved
in the past few million years...but that doesn't seem quite right to
me since all it is a characteristic of all five species! At any rate,
this trunk is very strong yet very flexible—it can move in all
directions—and it allows the tapir to grab foliage that is out of
range of its mouth.
Also
on this date:
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ahead:
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out my Pinterest boards for:
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