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© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Dean Foy

Baird's Tapir

Tapirus bairdii

Physical Characteristics

  • Short bristly hairs, long narrow mane, thick skin, dark brown to reddish brown coloring above, often paler coloring below, snout and upper lips protrude into a short, fleshy proboscis, legs short, 3 digits on each foot, tail short and thick
  • Size of average adult
    • height: 2 - 4 feet at shoulder
    • weight: 396 - 485 pounds
    • head and body length: 6 - 8 feet
  • Approximate life span is 30 years.

Diet

  • Wild: aquatic vegetation, leaves, buds, fruits of low growing terrestrial plants, mainly green shoots of most common browsing plants

Behavior

  • Good hill climbers, runners, sliders, waders, divers, swimmers
  • Shy, docile, seek shelter in forests by day, emerge to borders at night to feed
  • Keen sense of hearing and smell
  • Solitary except for females with young
  • Communicate with shrill whistling sounds, scent mark with urine
  • Reproduction
    • sexual maturity: 1.5 - 2 yrs.
    • gestation: 390 days
    • single births
    • birth weight: 13 - 15 pounds
    • weaned: 6 - 8 months

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: wooded or grassy areas with permanent water supply
  • Distribution: southern Mexico to Columbia, Ecuador west of the Andes
  • Status: Endangered, CITES Appendix I
    • hunted: food and sport
    • habitat destruction: agriculture and grazing
    • susceptible to horse diseases

Conservation Efforts

  • The American Zoo and Aquarium Association is actively involved with the governments in the tapir's home range in an attempt to conserve habitats.

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