Tapir, Tapir

The first true tapirs appeared in the Oligocene, and by the Miocene, such genera as Miotapirus were almost indistinguishable from the extant species.

Ashley, M.V., Norman, J.E. and Stross, L.: "Phylogenetic analysis of the perissodactylan family tapiridae using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COII) sequences." Mammal Evolution.

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, restore, and manage the four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia.

It is currently led by Kendra Bauer and involves placing radio collars on tapirs in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park to study their social systems and habitat preferences.

The day has been established to raise awareness about the four species of tapir that inhabit Central and South America and South-East Asia.

In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed by a tapir bite, after she attempted to feed the attacking tapir's young.

A feature of this mythical creature is a snout like that of an elephant. In Japanese folklore, tapirs can eat people's dreams. In Chinese, the name of this beast, subsequently the name of the tapir, is m in Mandarin and mek in Cantonese (). The Korean equivalent is maek (Hangul: , Hanja: ), while it is called baku () in Japanese. The Chinese file hosting service Mofile has been referred to as the tapir by Chinese-speaking users.

Source: Wikipedia > Tapir