Inspiring Animals - The Tapir

We are back with another episode of Inspiring Animals and this week Kayla is going to introduce us to the Central American tapir, one of the most important animals of the rainforest, and one of our favorite animals to learn about!

It is an elephant, a pig, an anteater? Actually, none of these! Curious? So are we! So let's explore this Inspiring Animal together.

For more on our Inspiring Animals series - www.inspire-edventures.com/inspiring-animals.

Send us your questions at michael@inspire-EdVentures.com

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Transcript

…Hi everyone this is Kayla at Inspire Adventures and this month we're here to talk to you about a very special inspiring animal, the central American tapir. And I'm here with Michael as always how do you feel about the the taper? Well first of all I'm gonna have to learn how to say it better because I always called it to peer but maybe we can only use both terms today. Yeah I think that the official pronunciation is taper or running with paper but I have heard, I have heard a lot of people say tipier so I probably will today too Paper tipier. It's the same animal in one of my absolute favorites.
always a favorite when we're at the Belize Zoo or learning about or many times we see them on our trail cameras So I can't wait to dive right into this one today Kayla. Yeah So the Central American taper is a really interesting animal first of all they are the largest land animals actually found in Central America so…so they can actually grow at their full adult size to be between three hundred and six hundred pounds. So these are really large animals.
if you see a picture of them they're, this…species of tapir when you when you say tapir or sometimes it comes to mind the kind of black and white patterned animal that is actually the Malayan or Malaysian, tape here So we're talking about a different different different kind here The Central American tapir is, all gray all the way through kinda has a lighter underside to it Sometimes has some white markings on the forehead or on the chest. But when you first look at a, at a central American tapir what you might think immediately of is actually an elephant because tapirs have this really interesting, kind of long proboscis they have this very long very flexible nose, that does call to mind an elephant trunk but Taviors are actually not closely related to elephants They're also not very closely related to other animals that you might think of when you first see them such as pig They're kind of pig shaped. that's a little rude of me to say but they are. Yeah. And
but they're not very closely related to either of those animals Central American tapirs are actually what's known as an odd toed ungulate okay So hold it right there Kayla Okay Because I knew this term was gonna come up And I really just think we should take a moment kind of break that apart Okay Because there's a lot going on in just saying that that that tapir is an odd toad ungulate first of all, odd toad so sorry And then second people may not know what an ungulate is So let's go ahead and just like talk about that We'll come back to why that they are them. So ungulates are hoofed mammals and this is already a little bit of a a curve ball because when you look at a taper It doesn't look like it has hooves the way that you'd think that a deer or a horse has hooves. what they have is they have their toes kind of splayed out, and their toes are actually covered in keratin. And And characters like the same stuff that we find in our fingernails and our hair Right Yes It's a it's a very hard,
kind of protective material that they they have So they kind of have instead of the one big hoof that maybe a horse has they kind of have, like four little hooves, over their toes You can think of it that way. and but when you get into what odd toed means for ocular There are two kinds two main kinds of of ungulates there's the odd toed ungulates and the even toed ungulates. This is a bit confusing because it doesn't actually refer to how how many toes the animal has For example, Tapears have four toes on their front feet and three toes on their hind feet You can already see there's kind of an issue with that. What odd toed or even toed actually does refer to is how the animals wait is distributed So for an even tote ungulate they usually have their weight distributed on two of their toes. Whereas for odd tote ungulates they typically have their weight distributed on one or three toes And that's what you see for, for tapirs and so that's just kind of two different branches of
of the hoofed mammals of the ungulates. And most ungulates that you find in the world such as horses or sorry not horses We'll get into that in a second but most, uncles that you find in the world such as deer for example are actually even tote uncles They are the more numerous so for odd tote ungulates to peers to peers being members of this family actually means that their closest relatives are horses and rhinoceros. Wow. And they don't look very much like either one of those So you can see there's there's quite a bit of diversity one of the kind of interesting things about odd toed ungulates is that they used to be much much more numerous and a lot of the actually megafauna kind of prehistoric megafauna like the the woolly rhinoceros that you think of, the really really big mammals were actually autodungulates but a lot of them since a lot of those kind of lines have since died out So we have But can't go back real quick though I don't mind interrupt you eventually Wait Let's go back to this whole idea So the odd toad really has nothing to do with the fact it has an odd number of toes on each Nope I can pull up that So even I didn't even know that myself There there we go So So yes So it's it it refers to
how the the the weight bearing in the That is really interesting Okay So back to these being a very very old group of mammals Yes Yes so Central American takers are one of four kind of main species of tapir Like we said we have the Malayan to pier found in Southern Asia primarily. And then we have the central American to peer. We have the mountain to peer which is actually found in South America and then the kind of main American or lowland to Pure which is also found primarily in Brazil I believe…
and as you if you kind of imagine that map in your head you might notice that there's some gaps, in there. And you might ask yourself well where how did they get to where they are And so to peers and this is a very long time ago to peers did used to be more widespread. there used to be species of to peer that are are now very long extinct. That lived all the way up into the United States, and since then they've become the the only really ones that we have left are the much more tropical What you're saying Kayla is I've heard this term used a lot they're sometimes referred to as living fossils Yes And and that's kind of an interesting from a biology terminology It doesn't mean that they're they live a long time Right They're not living fossils like a living dinosaur would be Right They are But what's that term mean when people say that? What it kind of means is that to peers haven't really changed very much from kind of the early lineages of to peers So if you look at,
like very old, like fossils of species before the species that we have now So the species that, were more widespread throughout the Americas the species that we find up in in the Northern United States, they are separate species They are very old They have since died out but they also look very similar to the ones that we have today which kind of implies that the whole method that the tipir has of just being very large having its its it's odd toes and it's proboscis, is pretty successful at what they're doing They don't they don't need to have to have changed so much It also creates a little bit of a challenge sometimes because all four of these species around the world kind of look alike They're they're Or in their size differences we all the time must have people ask us questions We're like yeah that's not a belief or a central American to peer Right So that is probably a Malaysian or a or a lowlands Right So Yeah. yeah And in Central America actually, one of the
main strongholds for to peers like one of their main populations is at actually in the Belize Guatemala what's called sometimes the main corridor the main rainforest corridor. and this has this is one of the larger stretches of uninterrupted rainforest. Because like we've said to peers, they really like being in this kind of very deep and undisturbed rainforest. they are pretty shy They don't really like to be around people…and they, they need because they're they're so large they need, pretty large and uninterrupted structures of rainforest to really support these populations that we would consider healthy…
it appears actually we've learned that the peers actually move around quite a lot more than you might think that they do And…Okay Kayla I have a quick question for you know we have we have these trail cameras all over the rainforest where we've done a lot of work with our Jaguar projects and our you know obviously the big cat projects we've heard already about but we see a lot of it appears on here Okay A little an awful lot of it appears Right So It's very hard to identify them individually But two things come to mind when I see them is first of all there's a sheer number of them that we actually see And second, these things love water. We see them in the water all the time So can you tell me a little bit about first of all you know, you know that this being a stronghold as you mentioned of them in Belize but also a little bit about what is it with takers and water? Yeah So takers really do like water quite a bit. Which is actually very interesting.
they are really good swimmers actually You might not think so looking at again how big these animals are but they're they're very good swimmers. they to be near water They also like to be near kind of these mud hollows which kind of keeps them cool during the day It gets very hot in the rainforest during the day And if you're a very big animal you have to take some inventive measures to cool down sometimes. to peers they do swim very well and what they can do and this is very cute, is that they can use their little flexible nose as kind of a snorkel, so they can stick that above the water and breathe through it while they're while they're swimming so that's really interesting Yes We've seen a lot of to peer pictures of them in streams waiting through streams splashing around in streams They they are very, very water loving animals. And and that's really important for the rain forest as well isn't it Yes i think we're gonna get to that in a few moments. What the tip you're admit is actually doing in the water Yes
so one of the tiphirs primary role in the rainforest is, ecologically speaking is that they are seed spreaders because tapirs are herbivores so they are plant eating, and they eat a lot of seeds They eat a lot of fruits and plant matter. if you see at the belize zoo when they when they feed that's appears It's very much just like a a very nice fruit salad You kinda wanna go in there and and steal a little bit of it for yourself honestly maybe that's just me But so they eat a lot of fruits And when this fruit passes through their system, they end up spreading a whole lot of seeds. And this is very important for the rainforest because a lot of times these fruits have actually specially adapted pretty much specifically for this They've, adapted to be attractive to these to these herbivores who then eat them and spread their seeds to new location and the plants grow up and this is very important for ensuring the first of all just the
healthy populations of these plants but also ensuring just rainforest diversity in general. So you can see that to peers are very important…seed spreaders in the rainforest. However to peers when you say herbivore a lot of times in people's minds this means prey species. And this is sometimes true for to peers especially very young to peers when they're a lot smaller They can be preyed on by a variety of of different animals but the thing about an adult to peer and this is why it's kind of an advantage for them to be so big is that they're really so big that…they're not an easy prey species for pretty much anything So we've talked earlier in this series about jack wires We've talked about harpy Eagles, which are some of the large just and most really most ferocious predators in the rainforest. And even a jaguar is going to have a really hard time going after an adult to peer an adult to peer will probably outweigh a jaguar, and it would just take a lot of energy for this jaguar to bring down an adult to peer And they have really thick skin They have very very thick skin
they they are really, sturdy animals. So it would take a lot of energy for a jack wire to go after it appears So most of the time, a jack wire is going to go after smaller prey that it has a a much better chance of…of actually taking down So really once a to peer gets to its adult size there's there's very few, animals that can hunt it to peer Also that when they're really young, Okay They have okay a really unique appearance And I remember Oh yeah I often will hear Jamal the conservation director of the police They refer to most little watermelons yeah. well yes they are about watermelon shaped and watermelon size to be completely honest when they're very young unfortunately we have actually not seen baby to pairs on our trail cameras That is something that I would very much like to see But yes they're very they're very small and they're actually a kind of instead of the gray that their parents are They're a brown color and they have these kind of like
squiggly white stripes all over them and this is a kind of camouflage adaptation because it kind of looks like leaf dapples. On them and it's it kinda keeps them safe They're very cute I will say if you look at if you look at any pictures of babies appear they're they're very very cute animals. Okay So back to then some of the…what are some of the threats then to these very large animals knowing that they really don't have any major predators at on a wire size And as you mentioned, you know a jaguar is maybe one third this size Okay Maybe okay if it's up here So you know it's a…
what's the problem? Yeah So a major problem actually facing Central American to peers is that again they really need these uninterrupted stretches of rainforest so this does bring up you know all rain forest species really any that you talk about are going to be threatened by things like deforestation and habitat fragmentation. For it to peer specifically, a a big problem that they've run into a lot is act actually being hit by cars on the road. because tapirs are first of all they're a nocturnal, primarily nocturnal and they're very hard to see at night because they are this kind of dark gray coloration which is very nice for them to camouflage. Very hard to to see if they're on the side of the road or crossing the road And this does tie into, the fact that tapirs do move around.
They do need the to these structures of ring force to move around through. And to when to peers will try to cross the road they're very often hit by cars. And this is, as you can imagine a a pretty severe problem for really for any population of animal but especially for for populations of tapirs because…
we want…the populations that we have right now that are already being threatened by things like deforestation and habitat fragmentation and this loss of habitat that is really threatening rainforest around the world. we want to keep the…the strongest populations that we have which include the populations in the mind rainforest. we want to keep them as healthy and as strong as possible So having to peers that are…regularly by cars along these roads who are losing these populations and of course it's it's also very sad on an individual level to see, such a…
beautiful animal really be be kind of killed in this manner and Belize one of the initiatives that they've actually done for this is that they've made these, to peer crossing signs. so these are just bright yellow signs that they they stick up on the side of the road they stick them up in areas of the road that are going near the rainforest where the where the tapirs might be crossing through And it's just telling people you know hey slow down a little bit. I mean people don't want to hit tapirs with their cars either in a few imagine hitting a eight…
If you imagine hitting a three hundred to six hundred pound animal with your car your car is not gonna be very happy with that Right So people also don't want to to hit these animals with their cars There's an initiative to put these signs up all over the place kind of paired with some education initiatives to let people know hey you know, we're having this problem with the tapirs Here's what you can do. to to help us protect these to peers and to help you know avoid totaling your car on the road at night And this has actually been pretty effective at at reducing the number of road deaths in, in these areas that for for it to peer So that's kind of a And recently though the Belize Zoo has been working an initiative across the country where they're actually Boling these animal bridges. Right So they so they can cross from one side of the road to the other by basically going overpasses Yes It's it's hard to work for it You know then it isn't so they can walk above above the road Right They can pull inside the other Yeah That's actually also a really interesting thing
the tapirs don't really like crossing the road either The tapirs they don't like people They don't like cars. they they wouldn't be crossing the road in this way if they had, other options And so the idea is to give them other options give them safe safer options where they can connect to different parts of their habitat Because as we've kind of talked about mentioned a little bit this idea of habitat fragmentation so habitat fragmentation is kind of exactly what it sounds like It's when you take one big piece of habitat, such as one big piece of a rainforest, and you break it up into a bunch of little smaller pieces. And oftentimes this is through human construction…
Such as constructing roads. And you know we might look at a road and think well that's you know it's not very big Surely the animals can just get back and forth over it But as we've seen with with the tapirs in this example, what we see with a lot of other animals is that it's actually it's actually very hazardous for them to get over, these roads and additionally for smaller animals for its peers of course they're they're herbivores they don't eat anything else But for predators you see, sometimes that they're maybe the predator can make it over but their prey might not because their prey is much smaller, and the road is a much bigger obstacle for them So habitat fragmentation is actually a pretty severe problem for a lot of forest environments and is a pretty severe problem for the Central American rain forest right now It's one of the the, major conservation problems that that animals and organizations are facing in really any rain forest but especially the Central American rain forest right now So one of the,
kind of conservation success stories…one of the main conservation initiatives is called the Mayan Rainforest corridor. And the Mayan Rainforest corridor is an initiative and will of course put put a bunch of links in the description for this that you can go and learn more about this yourself It's a really, it's a really very interesting it's a really very interesting initiative. and the idea of the Mind Rain Forest Corridor is to create a a corridor. Of uninterrupted rain forest that is not being you know, fragmented or torn up or or…subjected to this kind of human construction so that these animals that live in the rain forest and especially the bigger animals like your takers your jaguars your harpy eagles, they have the space that they need to move from one space to another. Within this rainforest and they can…just ensure it just ensures the health of these larger populations within the rainforest and ensures the health of the rainforest itself and make sure that these and holes that are like to peers that are so critical to ensuring the help of the rainforest get all of the space that they need to live their little to appear lives within it.
So Kayla that's been really interesting and I'm sure there's gonna be lots of questions out there
I still have questions about the peers every time I go to the zoo or every time I learn about them And you've written some really great articles and placed them up on our website and we'll share them with our listeners as well as well about about corridors but also about you know all the all that appears we've captured on our on our trail cameras which is a lot of fun You actually almost we have cameras now which have taken multiple pictures and it seems like they're playing in the water half the time and you've been down there to help set up some of those cameras which is fun too So lots of questions but also not just asking questions of us but going and learning more about these these truly truly inspiring animals. one of the ways you can do that is go to the Belize Zoo website They are a major conservation center And one of our part nurse for tier beer camp conservation in basically Central America and is I believe the world probably at this point and to learn some more But Kayla anything else you wanna go ahead and just let people know about the beers before we…
they are the National Animal of Belize I don't know if we've said that You did not say that That is amazing yeah That is yeah that is one of the fun facts about them They're the NASH national animal of Belize I believe because we were talking about the Belize Zoo I believe that a tapir April that tapir was actually the very first animal that was rescued, by the Belize Zoo founder Sharon Matola, I believe April that appeared was actually orphaned because of a a road collision, and that was how she became the kind of the first rescued animal in what would become the Bali Zoo which is one of our our main partners And again really a a incredible, an incredible resource and incredible opportunity to learn more about these animals If you have any questions about the peers, the professionals with the belize zoo have they spend you know every day with with these animals taking care of these animals They can tell you anything that you want to know about about it to peer. We have some great video up on our YouTube channel about
the peers being fed Yes Whenever we bring groups down there So please feel free to ask questions I'm always always always an amazing inspiring animal to see and interact with and learn more about…Next month we've got a special surprise for you because we are going to head out into the ocean. What are we gonna be doing next month Dale next month we are going to be talking about corals Corals and corals are an animal So we're okay We're gonna learn why they're an animal as well Okay And corals are really important Right And we're gonna kinda have this as being like a little bit of a Christmas quarrels Right Yes So we're going…
to have a very special Christmas Corals episode for next month Well I'm looking forward to that And as always if there's any questions please let us know. And thank you Kayla for yet another wonderful inspiring animal tale K Thank you as well…