Tapir Facts

About the tapir

Wild tapirs live in jungles and forests in Central America, South America and Southeast Asia. Four species are widely recognized: the South American, Malayan, Baird's and mountain tapirs, and all are rated endangered or vulnerable. A proposed fifth, the kabomani tapir, was announced in 2013, but genetic work suggests it belongs to the South American species.

Despite the pig-like look, tapirs are odd-toed hoofed mammals, and their nearest living relatives are horses, zebras, wild asses and rhinos. They once lived across North America and moved into South America after the Isthmus of Panama formed. The North American species died out about 12,000 years ago, around the time humans first arrived, and a large Asian species, Tapirus augustus, also vanished in the Late Pleistocene.

Did you know?

• Only one genus of tapir, Tapirus, survives today.
• Fossils of one extinct tapir have been found as far north as New York State.
• Tapirs form one of three surviving branches of odd-toed ungulates, with equines and rhinos.