Page 56 - World of Animals - Issue #39

Tapirs

Scientists describe tapirs as living fossils

Tapirs have remained unchanged for over 30 million years
Step back in time, to an era when mammoths roamed few natural predators. In their wild state, tapirs rarely DID YOU
KNOW?
tundra steppes. Tapirs already existed. Travel back suffer from disease. They have few competitors in A mysterious fifth species of
further, before North and South America were
their niche, and clever adaptations for procuring food.
© Alamy; FLPA; Shutterstock; Thinkstock tapir fossils, in fact, date back over 50 million years, to leading to gradual changes in animal form and The little black or kabomani
Evolution is a process of survival of the fittest,
connected together. Tapirs already existed. The first
tapir was discovered in 2013.
a time when terror birds roamed the rainforests.
function. Tapirs, it seems, are so well adapted to their
tapir was first discovered in
current environment that few changes are needed.
The basic body plan for the tapir has stayed
Brazil, and is the first odd-
Dependent upon rainforests, this ancient group may
unchanged despite millions of years of evolution.
toed ungulate to be
The reason? Tapirs, it is believed, are incredibly well
suddenly be facing a new threat. With deforestation
discovered in over
adapted for their rainforest biomes. Able to make use
reducing the amount of habitat available for tapirs,
100 years!
of both land and freshwater, these mammals have
56 these animals may struggle to adapt to new biomes.
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