Tapir - a curious creature

 The 2020 CBCA slogan is:

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds

The Tapir

In a recent post I talked about the gnu. They live in Africa.  I have also talked about our Australian platypus. This time I have turned my attention to South America.  Some of the curious creatures from that continent are: sloth, macaw, guanaco, capybara and tapir. There is one other tapir - the Malaysian tapir which is found in South East Asia. The first book that I thought of for this curious creature is the book series Mango and Bambang.

Here are some facts about the Tapir:

• There are five types of tapirs: Baird’s tapir, Lowland or Brazilian tapir, Mountain or woolly tapir, the Kabomani tapir (discovered in 2013) and the Malayan tapir.
• Most tapirs live in South America, from southern Mexico to Venezuela, Brazil and Paraguay.
• The Malayan tapir is the exception; it lives in Asia — Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Sumatra.
• Tapirs look something like pigs with trunks, but they are actually related to horses and rhinoceroses
• Tapirs love the water. They’re terrific swimmers and divers. They enter water to cool off, dine on aquatic plants and avoid predators.
• The word tapir comes from the language of Brazil’s indigenous Tupi people, who called it “tapyra.”
• These days, English-speaking people seem to say it at least four different ways: 1. ta-PEER, 2. TAY-per (so that it sounds like “taper”), 3. TAY-peer and 4. TAY-pyer.
• Tapir have four toes on the front feet and three toes on the back feet.
• The tapir is a odd-toed ungulate
• Tapirs are herbivores eating grass and leaves.
• The collective noun for a group of tapirs is a candle.

Baby tapirs are “hiders” when they are young, and their stripes and spots are excellent camouflage in the dappled light of the forest.

Image Source: San Diego Zoo

Further reading:

San Diego Zoo

Zoo Borns

World Wildlife fund

National Geographic

Here some picture books which feature the tapir:

Publisher blurb: A picture paints a thousand words... Tapir and his friends all have nice new notebooks, just waiting to be filled. Giraffe decides to write a poem, Hippo writes a story and Flamingo composes a beautiful song. But poor Tapir can't think of anything to write - and the harder he tries the more upset he becomes! But everything starts to change when Tapir stops trying to write, and instead he begins to draw...  An uplifting and inspiring story about friendship and finding your feet, with the reassuring message that we are all unique and all good at something.

Publisher blurb: The jungle is a noisy place. The elephants BOOM, the rhinos BAM-BAM, the hornbills CAW-CAW and the apes HOO-HAA, but Tapir and Little Tapir don’t make a sound. They tiptoe through their days — until the morning a hungry leopard forces them to run for the lives. Leopard is just about to pounce when BANG! The sound of a hunter’s gun stops all three animals in their tracks. Now Leopard must flee — very quietly, with help from the tapirs. From that day on, Leopard moves with a very soft step as do the rest of the jungle beasts. With elegant pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations, this original pourquoi story is a satisfying and visually arresting tale of quiet rewarded.

Publisher blurb: Gordon and Tapir by Sebastian Meschenmoser, tells the comical story of odd-couple housemates (a particular penguin and an untidy tapir) and has been short-listed for the German Children’s Book of the Year Award.

Book Depository: Little Tapir is sleeping next to his mother when he is woken by Spider and led deep inside the jungle following the beat of Spider's song. Monkeys, firebirds, snakes and insects all add their own rhythms to the music but when the beat stops and Tapir is all alone, he realises how dangerous the jungle can be. But Mother Tapir is there to save the day.

Publisher blurb: From a master storyteller comes this heartfelt tale of friendship . . . and seeing past our differences. Tapir lives in the jungle. Pig lives in the village. But when they meet at the waterhole, they discover they are the same in so many ways. They might even be brothers from a different mother!

My friend, who inspired these posts, has a wonderful collection of toys to match the books in her Preschool to Year 2 junior library. I went hunting and I found a plush toy tapir - so cute!

Image source: Cuddlekins