Mountain tapir facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mountain tapir |
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Tapirus
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pinchaque
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| Mountain tapir range | |
The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (Tapirus pinchaque), is the smallest of the four main types of tapirs. It lives only in parts of the Andean Mountain Range in northwestern South America. This makes it the only tapir species that lives outside of tropical rainforests in the wild. You can easily tell it apart from other tapirs by its thick, woolly coat and white lips.
Its scientific name, pinchaque, comes from "La Pinchaque." This was an imaginary creature said to live in the same areas as the mountain tapir.
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What Does a Mountain Tapir Look Like?
Mountain tapirs are usually black or very dark brown. They sometimes have pale hairs mixed in with their darker fur. The fur is lighter on their belly, around their bottom, and on their cheeks. They have a clear white band around their lips, which can be different sizes. There are also usually white bands on the top edges of their ears.
Adult tapirs have bare skin patches on their rump. These patches might show when they are old enough to have babies. Their eyes are blue when they are young, but they turn light brown as they get older. Unlike other tapir species, their fur is long and woolly. It can be about 3.5 cm (1.4 in) long or more, especially on their belly and sides.
Adult mountain tapirs are usually about 1.8 m (5.9 ft) long. They stand about 0.75 to 1 m (2.5 to 3.3 ft) tall at the shoulder. They typically weigh between 136 and 250 kg (300 and 551 lb). Females tend to be about 25 to 100 kg (55 to 220 lb) heavier than males.
Like other tapirs, they have short, stubby tails. They also have long, flexible proboscises, which are like short trunks. They have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot. Each toe has a large nail and is supported by a soft pad. A patch of bare, pale pink or gray skin is found just above each toe.
Mountain Tapir Life Cycle and Reproduction
Female mountain tapirs can have babies about once every two years. Their estrous cycle, which is when they can get pregnant, lasts about 30 days. When a male wants to mate, he will chase the female. He makes soft bites, grunts, and squeals to get her attention. The female often squeals back.
After being pregnant for about 392 or 393 days, the female gives birth to one baby. Having more than one baby at a time is very rare.
Newborn mountain tapirs weigh about 5.4 to 6.2 kg (12 to 14 lb). They have a brown coat with yellowish-white spots and stripes. Just like adult mountain tapirs, babies have thick, woolly fur to help them stay warm. They start to stop drinking milk at around three months old. Their baby colors fade after about a year. However, the mother continues to care for her young for about 18 months. Mountain tapirs can start having their own babies when they are three years old. In zoos, they have lived up to 27 years.
What Do Mountain Tapirs Eat?
Tapirs are herbivores, meaning they eat plants. They eat many different plants, including leaves, grasses, and bromeliads. In the wild, they often eat lupins, Gynoxys, ferns, and umbrella plants. They also look for natural salt licks. These salt licks help them get important minerals they need.
Mountain tapirs are very important for spreading seeds in their environment. They are known as a keystone species in the high Andes. This means they play a big role in keeping their ecosystem healthy. Many plant seeds they eat can grow after passing through their dung. This is because their digestion is not very efficient. They spread many types of seeds this way. For example, the endangered wax palm seems to depend almost completely on mountain tapirs to spread its seeds. If mountain tapirs disappear from an area, this plant and the highland lupine also decrease a lot.
Predators that hunt mountain tapirs include cougars and spectacled bears. Sometimes, jaguars also hunt them.
Mountain Tapir Behavior
When mountain tapirs are around other tapirs, they communicate with high-pitched whistles. Males sometimes fight over females by trying to bite each other's back legs. But mostly, mountain tapirs are shy and live alone. They spend their time looking for food by themselves along paths they have made. Even though they are big, they can move easily through thick plants. They can also climb the steep hills where they live and swim in water. They often like to wallow and swim in water.
Mountain tapirs are usually active around dawn and dusk, which is called crepuscular. However, they are more active during the day than other tapir species. They sleep from about midnight until morning. They also take another rest during the hottest part of the day, for a few hours after noon. They prefer to sleep in areas with lots of plants to hide in.
Mountain tapirs look for soft plants to eat. To reach high plants, they sometimes stand up on their back legs. Then they use their prehensile snouts to grab the plants. Their eyesight is not very good. But they use their strong sense of smell and taste to find food. They also use the sensitive bristles on their proboscises.
Male tapirs often mark their territory with piles of dung, urine, and by rubbing against trees to leave their scent. Females sometimes do these things too. The territories of different tapirs often overlap. Each animal might claim over 800 ha (3.1 sqmi). Females usually have larger territories than males.
Where Do Mountain Tapirs Live?
The mountain tapir lives in the cloud forests and páramo areas. These are found in the Eastern and Central Cordilleras mountains. These mountains are in Colombia, Ecuador, and the very north of Peru. They might have once lived as far as western Venezuela, but they are no longer found there.
They usually live at elevations between 2,000 and 4,300 m (6,600 and 14,100 ft). At these high altitudes, temperatures often drop below freezing. This is why the tapir's woolly coat is so important to keep it warm. During the wet season, mountain tapirs tend to stay in the Andes forests. During the drier months, they move to the páramo. There are fewer biting insects there during that time.
There are no different types (subspecies) of mountain tapirs.
In Peru, the mountain tapir is protected in the National Sanctuary Tabaconas Namballe. This species needs large, connected areas of cloud forest and páramo to survive and have healthy populations. Small, separate patches of land are not enough. This is a big worry for conservationists who are trying to protect this endangered animal.
Why Are Mountain Tapirs Endangered?
The mountain tapir is the most threatened of the five Tapirus species. The IUCN classified it as "Endangered" in 1996. This means it is at a very high risk of becoming extinct. Because the areas where they live are now broken up, their populations might already be too small to keep their genes diverse and healthy.
In the past, people hunted mountain tapirs for their meat and hides. Their toes, proboscises, and intestines were also used in local traditional medicines. Since they sometimes eat crops, farmers would also kill them to protect their food. Today, the main threats to mountain tapirs are deforestation (cutting down forests) for agriculture and mining, and poaching (illegal hunting).
There might be only about 2,500 mountain tapirs left in the wild today. This makes it very hard for scientists to study them. Also, very few mountain tapirs live in zoos. Only a few breeding pairs of this species exist in zoos around the world. These include the Los Angeles Zoo, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and, as of 2006, the San Francisco Zoo. In Canada, a mating pair is kept in Langley, BC, at the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Centre. The nine tapirs in zoos today are all descendants of just two original animals. This means they have very little genetic diversity, which is not good for their long-term survival in captivity. The zoos that have this species are working to help protect the remaining wild mountain tapir populations. Two mountain tapirs were sent from San Francisco Zoo to Cali Zoo. This makes them the only captive tapirs in their natural home range. One male is kept in Pitalito, and he might be moved to the Cali Zoo to form a breeding pair.
Images for kids
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Mountain tapir skull on display at the Museum of Osteology
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Mountain tapir feeding
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Two mountain tapirs in San Francisco Zoo
See also
In Spanish: Tapir andino para niños
