| INDEX-Animals |
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| Tapirs are
strong animals. The rear feet have three toes and the front feet have an extra, very low. The tapirs have a flexible trunk, prehensile and covered by hair sensitive to smell and humidity. They eat fruits, leaves, stems, shoots, small branches, grass, aquatic plants, bark of trees, aquatic organisms and even graze on plantations of cane, melon, cocoa, rice and corn. During mating, males attract females with shrill whistles. Copulation can occur both in and out of the water. The couple split up after that. More than one puppy is rarely born; it has a different coloration than adults: they are streaked with brown and white. He is breastfed until the mother is lactating. In a year and a half he is grown up and looks like an adult. During the day, the tapir is hidden in the forest. At night, leave the hiding place to graze. Its footprints, difficult to be confused, can be seen at dawn on open trails in the forest, on the banks of rivers and even at the bottom of the lagoons. The tapir takes frequent baths of mud and water to get rid of parasites like ticks, flies, etc. That is why it is found close to rivers and humid forests. Animals with solitary habits are found accompanied only during the mating season or during breastfeeding. Males regularly urinate in the same places, perhaps to show other individuals of the same species their presence there. |
| INDEX-Animals |
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