I truly love all types of animals - from stick bugs to whale sharks, but I do have a special place in my heart for tapirs. There is something about them that really speaks to me, and I know that they aren't so familiar to most people, so I wanted to share some cool tapir info with you.
1.There are different types of tapirs. Malayan tapirs, Baird's tapirs, Mountain Tapirs, Brazilian Tapirs, and as of 2013, a fifth type of tapir has been discovered - the Kabomani tapirs. For details on each tapir type (try to say that eleven times fast!), see the World Tapir Day site.
2. Baby tapirs are indescribably cute. Their stripes and spots help them blend in with the shadows in the wild for safety. While I would love to see tapirs in the wild, I am happy that conservation programs in zoos are helping these endangered animals keep going.
3. Tapirs need help! All species of tapir are endangered, but thankfully there are conservation efforts.
4. Tapirs are related to rhinos, and yes, I love rhinos!!!!
They may look like elephants, because of their cute trunks, but they are most closely related to horses and rhinos. Tapirs are semi-aquatic; in other words, they are really good swimmers. Tapirs are nocturnal and seem pretty shy.
5. Gardeners of the forest - yes, that means their poop!!!! As herbivores, they eat a wide variety of fruits (and other plants) and the seeds get distributed everywhere the tapir goes.
This poster is from Tapir Specialist Group.
Books about tapirs: As you probably already know, I love books. So I could not resist adding a section about tapir book so here it is!!!!
Can Tapir Play? by Sabina Gibson - a board book with illustrations of felted animals; so cute!!!!
Raising Don by Georgeanne Irvine - a non-fiction book about Don, the tapir
Mango and Bambang, by Polly Faber - a fiction trilogy of a tapir living in England with a small girl - funny and sweet.
The Tapir Scientist, by Sy Montgomery. Sy Montgomery is a truly wonderful person and her work is so important. I hope you take the time to support her books and celebrate her work. She's awesome!!!!
The copy of Can Tapir Play that you gifted Selma is one of our all time favorites- thank you thank you! If it weren’t for you I really wouldn’t know much about them, other than the name, and now Selma gets to learn about them from you, too! Time to check out some of these other books you listed, and I’m excited to do so:) I’m curious about how you first found out about and grew to love tapirs, was it from a book? Love you and thank you for introducing us to the amazing world of tapirs!
Thank you for another wonderful post! I love tapirs, too, and I found this post to be very informative. I did not realize that there are 4 (now 5) species of tapir, and they all look so different. I realize now that the tapirs in the Bronx Zoo must be Malayan tapirs. One thing I find fascinating is that regardless of the species of tapir, it looks like all baby tapirs have the same coloring. I also did not realize that they are one of the oldest surviving species of mammal on earth--that is really cool (and they are related to horses and rhinos, I never would have guessed that!). But maybe the most important thing that I learne…