Things Aren't All They Tapir: How Many Species of Tapir Are There Really?

In celebration of World Tapir Day ...

Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) at London Zoo © Poppy Simon

One of the questions I get asked most when people learn I studied zoology is what my favourite animal is. Just as with any specialism I think, the more you know the harder this question is to answer, but for me tapirs have to be up there. A pretty frequent response to me saying that though is "A what now?" so I thought I'd do a little run-down of what they actually are.

Tapirs (genus Tapirus) are large, herbivorous mammals in the order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates, like horses, donkeys, zebras and rhinoceroses. What makes them distinctive, and in my opinion incredibly endearing, is their short prehensile trunk. Although much shorter than an elephant's trunk, it is used in a similar way to grasp foliage in the jungles of Asia, and South and Central America in which they live.

Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) at London Zoo © Poppy Simon

There are 4 (or possibly 5) extant (not extinct) species of tapir; 3 (or 4) New World and 1 Old World. Apart from geographical location, they vary predominantly in size, coat color and length of trunk. The Malayan tapir (T. indicus) in the photo above is the one Old World species, and the only Asiatic species. Most distinguishable by its black and white coat, it is also the largest and has the longest trunk.

The 3 certain New World species are Baird's tapir (T. bairdii), the Mountain, or woolly, tapir (T. pinchque) and the South American, or Brazilian, tapir (T. terrestris), but in 2013 a team of scientists announced the discovery of a new tapir species, the Little Black, or kabomani, tapir (T. kabomani) - the first odd-toed ungulate discovered in over 100 years!

Since then, however, it has been questioned whether T. kabomani really is a separate species, or in fact a sub-species of T. terrestris. The other 4 tapir species all live in very different geographical areas, which has led to such divergent genetic profiles that they can be more certainly identified as distinct species. T. terrestris and T. kabomani, on the other hand, occupy the same territory and are not as different. Various papers have called into question their morphological and genetic differences, and as such it has not been recognised as a separate species by the Tapir Specialist Group. The original research group, Cozzuol et al., however, have responded to the issues raised and continue to argue that T. kabomani is indeed a separate species.

Who knew tapirs could be so controversial? However many species there are though, I think they're all pretty cool, and since the 4 evaluated species (not T. kabomani) are all classified as Endangered, it's clear they need a bit more recognition so spread the word!