Posted on 06/11/2009 10:25:14 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Is it a pig? A rhino? A zebra? Heck if I know. But it's really freaking weird looking, that's for sure.
The headline in the NY Times article, "New Research on Malaysia's Odd, Elusive Tapir" caught my attention, mostly because I had no idea what the heck a tapir is. Still don't, really. The Wiki entry attempts to clarify:
A large browsing mammal, roughly pig-like in shape, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs, being the Brazilian tapir, the Malayan tapir, Baird's tapir and the mountain tapir. All four species of tapir are classified as endangered or vulnerable. Their closest relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates, including horses and rhinoceroses.
Ah, the odd-toed ungulates! Well, that explains everything.
Those are pretty odd indeed. Where might you have seen tapirs before? (1) a zoo; (2) the opening scene of the 2006 film Apocalypto; (3) in the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, during a prehistoric scene being killed by an ape. Also, according to Japanese folklore, tapirs can eat your dreams.
The adults look kind of like a big wild boar; three of the species are mostly brown, whereas the Malay tapir has a white hind end, like someone spilled a bucket of paint back there. The babies, however, are uber-cute.
I unwittingly missed World Tapir Day (April 28), but I'm probably not the only one. The NY Times article says the Malay tapir remained largely invisible to science until recently. Scientists set up cameras with motion sensors to capture photos and were able to (a) drastically reduce their estimate of the numbers in Malaysia, and (b) figure out that they really like salt.
BigFoot lives!
;-/
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Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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