Tapirs (genus Tapirus) are Perissondactyls, or odd-toed ungulates. evolutionary relatives of rhinoceroses and horses. Only four species of tapir occur in the world, and three of them are in the American tropics. Tapirs are stocky, almost hairless animals, brownish to black depending upon species, with a short elephantine proboscis and a dense but short mane of stiff hair in the upper neck. The name probably aids the animal making its way through dense undergrowth. Tapirs have and acute sense of smell and select food plants at least in part on the basis of odor. They eat only vegetable matter, including leaves and fruits of various species.
The three Neotropical tapir species are separated by range and habitat. The most widespread is the Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) which can be found east of Andes from northern South America throughout Amazonia as far south as Paraguay. The Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) ranges throughout Central America and northern South America west of the Andes. The mountain tapir, (Tapirus pinchaque) has the most restricted range and is, as the name implies, confined to higher elevations. It inhabits the paramos of the central and eastern cordilleras of the Andes, from Colombia to Ecuador.
