
Tapirs are most famous for their fleshy, prehensile nose but that’s not all that’s amazing about them. Tapirs are most closely related to rhinos and horses, but split off to form their own group about 50 million years ago. They were found all over Europe, Asia and North America before largely going extinct. Three surviving species migrated from North America into South America when the two continents collided. Today, only the Asian tapir remains to represent the long gone Old World tapirs.
Asian tapirs are at severe risk to deforestation and the fragmentation of their habitat. The Thailand and Sumatran populations are close to extinction (perhaps only 50-100 left in either location). The population is larger in Malaysia, but everywhere else in Southeast Asia have lost their tapirs forever.
Most tapirs live outside of protected areas, and so the forests are torn down for illegal logging or to make way for palm oil plantations. Tapirs didn’t have to worry much about hunting in the past (Muslims thought they looked too much like pigs and indigenous people believed killing one brought bad luck) but with the continued loss of traditional local game animals, more and more tapirs are winding up poached as a food source.
Conservation required varies wildly depending on the country. Despite their low population in Thailand, nearly all of their range is protected and their future there is positive. In Myanmar and Sumatra things are much less optimistic. Genetic research and a captive breeding program are both underway.
Personally, I’ve always had a fondness for tapirs for two reasons. One, they look like giant shrews in pajamas. I love that. Second, they have a fascinating connection to mythology. Early Japanese explorers in Southeast Asia thought that tapirs resembled the mythological spirit known as the baku. Baku are magical animals that eat nightmares and were said to resemble a cross between an elephant and a lion. I’m not sure why the explorers thought that the tapir would be such a beast, but as a result tapirs became a permanent fixture of Japanese pop culture, appearing in everything from Pokemon to candy packaging.
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