. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. AMERICAN TAPIRS 251 Central Aiiieriua, and in the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Java and Sumatra. This animal is in many respects the most ancient of existing forms referable to the Perissodactyle order. It has four toes on the front-feet, though only three on the hind- feet. The number of teeth is 42—nearly the typical Eutlier- ian number. The Tapirs are always moderately-sized animals, entirely covered with hair, and usually of a brownish-black colour. The Malayan Tapir is, however, banded broadly with white—a single band; the young of the Tapir
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. AMERICAN TAPIRS 251 Central Aiiieriua, and in the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Java and Sumatra. This animal is in many respects the most ancient of existing forms referable to the Perissodactyle order. It has four toes on the front-feet, though only three on the hind- feet. The number of teeth is 42—nearly the typical Eutlier- ian number. The Tapirs are always moderately-sized animals, entirely covered with hair, and usually of a brownish-black colour. The Malayan Tapir is, however, banded broadly with white—a single band; the young of the Tapir is spotted, and striped with white. The nose and upper lip conjoined are pro-. FiG. 128.—American Tapir. Tapirus terrestris. x ^V duced into a short trunk, precisely comparable with that of the Elephant. As in the Ehinoceros—and in this both contrast with the other existing Perissodactyle genus Equus—the temporal fossa is not separated from the orbit by bone. Of existing Tapirs there are at any rate T. terrestris} T. roulini (the " Tapir Pincli- aque" of Cuvier), T. dowi and T. Iiairdi in America (the last two being sometimes separated into a distinct genus, Elasmo- ffnathus, on account of the prolongation of the ossified mesethmoid), and T. inclicus in the East. The tapir, probably T. terrestris, is described by Buffon as " a dull and gloomy ; It is certainly mainly nocturnal in habit. The name terrestris was given by Linnaeus, who placed it-in the same genus as IRppo- 1 T. leucogeiiys and 2\ emadorensis are probably not distinct, the latter being in reality T. terrestris, the former T. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Harmer, S. F. (Sidney Frederic), Sir, 1862- ed; Shipley, A. E. (Arthur Everett), Sir, 1861-1927. ed. [London, Macmillan and Co.
Size: 2106px × 1187px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
