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Malayan Tapir — printable fact sheet
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Malayan Tapir
Tapirus indicus
Tapirus indicus is the only tapir outside the Americas, and its colour scheme is the strangest in the family: a black front and hind end with a stark white saddle wrapped around the middle, which looks absurdly conspicuous in daylight and is in fact excellent camouflage. In the …
Did you know?
- Despite their pig-like appearance, tapirs are more closely related to horses and rhinoceroses than to pigs.
- A Malayan tapir's disruptive black-and-white pattern is thought to work best in exactly the dim, dappled conditions in which tigers hunt, so the loudest-looking coat in the forest is the hardest to see when it matters. The proboscis is controlled by a set of muscles that horses use for the upper lip, radically extended. Tapirs will submerge completely and walk along river bottoms, using the snout as a snorkel, and they defecate in water, which may reduce their scent trail.
What I learned
Draw the malayan tapir
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