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The South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref>Navarro, E. de A. (2013). Tupi antigo, a língua indígena clássica do Brasil. São Paulo: Global Editora e Distribuidora Ltda. p. 462</ref>), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Brazilian Portuguese), and la sachavaca (literally "bushcow", in mixed Quechua and Spanish), is one of the four recognized species in the tapir family (of the order Perissodactyla, with the mountain tapir, the Malayan tapir, and the Baird's tapir).<ref name="MSW3">Template:MSW3 Perissodactyla</ref> It is the largest surviving native terrestrial mammal in the Amazon.<ref>Montenegro, Olga Lucia. The Behavior of Lowland (Tapirus terrestris) at a Natural Mineral Lick in the Peruvian Amazon. Rep. N.p.: University of Florida, 1998.</ref>
Most classifications also include Tapirus kabomani (also known as the dwarf black tapir or the kabomani tapir) as also belonging to the species Tapirus terrestris (Brazilian tapir), despite its questionable existence and the overall lack of information on its habits and distribution. The specific epithet derives from arabo kabomani, the word for tapir in the local Paumarí language. The formal description of this tapir did not suggest a common name for the species.<ref name=corr/> The Karitiana people call it the little black tapir.<ref name=monga/> It is, purportedly, the smallest tapir species, even smaller than the mountain tapir (T. pinchaque), which had been considered the smallest. T. kabomani is allegedly also found in the Amazon rainforest, where it appears to be sympatric with the well-known South American tapir (T. terrestris). When it was described in December of 2013, T. kabomani was the first odd-toed ungulate discovered in over 100 years. However, T. kabomani has not been officially recognized by the Tapir Specialist Group as a distinct species; recent genetic evidence further suggests it is likely a subspecies of T. terrestris.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2024, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) has officially ruled that the binomen Tapirus pygmaeus has priority over Tapirus kabomani given that they are synonyms after a 2014 petition.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
AppearanceEdit
T. terrestris is dark brown, paler in the face, and has a low, erect crest running from the crown down the back of the neck. The round, dark ears have distinctive white edges. Newborn tapirs have a dark brown coat, with small white spots and stripes along the body. The South American tapir can attain a body length of Template:Cvt with a Template:Cvt short stubby tail and an average weight around Template:Cvt. Adult weight has been reported ranging from Template:Cvt. It stands somewhere between Template:Cvt at the shoulder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Features claimed for Tapirus kabomaniEdit
With an estimated mass of only Template:Cvt, T. kabomani is the smallest living tapir.<ref name=corr/> For comparison, the mountain tapir has a mass between Template:Cvt.<ref name=pad>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=ADW>Tapirus pinchaque, Animal Diversity Web</ref><ref name=Arkive>Mountain Tapir Template:Webarchive, Arkive</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tapirus kabomani is roughly Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt in shoulder height.<ref name=corr/>
It has a distinct phenotype from other members of the species. It can be differentiated by its coloration: it is a range of darker grey to brown than other T. terrestris strains.<ref name=corr/> This species also features relatively short legs for a tapir caused by a femur length that is shorter than dentary length.<ref name=corr/> The crest is smaller and less prominent.<ref name=monga/> T. kabomani also seems to exhibit some level of sexual dimorphism as females tend to be larger than males and possess a characteristic patch of light hair on their throats. The patch extends from the chin up to the ear and down to the base of the neck.<ref name=corr/>
Head and skull attributes are also important in identification of this species. This tapir possesses a single, narrow, low and gently inclined sagittal crest that rises posteriorly from the toothrow.<ref name=corr/> T. kabomani skulls also lack both a nasal septum and dorsal maxillary flanges.<ref name=corr/> The skull possesses a meatal diverticulum fossa that is shallower and less dorsally extended than those of the other four extant species of tapir.<ref name=corr/>
Geographic rangeEdit
The South American tapir can be found near water in the Amazon Rainforest and River Basin in South America, east of the Andes. Its geographic range stretches from Venezuela, Colombia, and the Guianas in the north to Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay in the south, to Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador in the west.<ref name="Tapir Specialist Group">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On rare occasions, waifs have crossed the narrow sea channel from Venezuela to the southern coast of the island of Trinidad (but no breeding population exists there).
Tapirus kabomani is restricted to South America. It is found in habitats consisting of a mosaic of forest and savannah.<ref name=corr/> It has been collected in southern Amazonas (the type locality), Rondônia, and Mato Grosso states in Brazil. The species is also believed to be present in Amazonas department in Colombia, and it may be present in Amapá, Brazil, in north Bolivia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in southern French Guiana.<ref name=monga/>
In 2024, the South American tapir was observed in the state of Rio de Janeiro for the first time since 1914. According to Marcelo Cupello, a scientist from Rio de Jaineiro's State Environmental Institution, the return of the species indicates that the state's forests are once again capable of sustaining populations of large mammals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BehaviorEdit
T. terrestris is an excellent swimmer and diver, but also moves quickly on land, even over rugged, mountainous terrain. It has a life span of approximately 25 to 30 years. In the wild, its main predators are crocodilians (only the black caiman and Orinoco crocodile, the latter of which is critically endangered, are large enough to take these tapirs, as the American crocodile only exists in the northern part of South America) and large cats, such as the jaguar and cougar, which often attack tapirs at night when tapirs leave the water and sleep on the riverbank. The South American tapir is also attacked by the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus).
Although they may flee into the bush or into water when threatened, lowland tapirs are capable of defending themselves with their very powerful bite; in 2005, a 55 year old farmer stabbed a 400 lb female lowland tapir that was feeding in his cornfield, which responded by repeatedly biting the man. Both died from their wounds.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
There is a need for more research to better explore social interactions.<ref>Pinho GM, Goncalves da Silva A, Hrbek T, Venticinque EM, Farias IP (2014) Kinship and Social One 9(3): e92507. doi: 10.1371/ journal. pone. 0092507</ref>
DietEdit
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The South American tapir is an herbivore. Using its mobile nose, it feeds on leaves, buds, shoots, and small branches it tears from trees, fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants. They also feed on the vast majority of seeds found in the rainforest.<ref>José M. V. Fragoso, and Jean M. Huffman. "Seed-Dispersal and Seedling Recruitment Patterns by the Last Neotropical Megafaunal Element in Amazonia, the Tapir." Journal of Tropical Ecology, vol. 16, no. 3, 2000, pp. 369–385. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3068806. </ref> This is known because the diet is studied through observation of browsing, analysis of feces, and studying stomach contents.<ref>Hibert F, Sabatier D, Andrivot J, Scotti-Saintagne C, Gonzalez S, et al. (2011) Botany, Genetics and Ethnobotany: A Crossed Investigation on the Elusive Tapir's Diet in French Guiana. PLoS ONE 6(10): e25850. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025850 </ref>
Although it has been determined via fecal samples that T. kabomani feeds on palm tree leaves and seeds from the genera Attalea and Astrocaryum, much about the diet and ecology of T. kabomani is unknown.<ref name=corr>Template:Cite journal</ref> Previously discovered tapirs are known to be important seed dispersers and to play key roles in the rainforest or mountain ecosystems in which they occur.<ref name=corr/> It is possible that T. kabomani shares this role with the other members of its genus although further research is required.
MatingEdit
T. terrestris mates in April, May, or June, reaching sexual maturity in the third year of life. Females go through a gestation period of 13 months (390–395 days) and will typically have one offspring every two years. A newborn South American tapir weighs about 15 pounds (6.8 kilos) and will be weaned in about six months.
Endangered statusEdit
The dwindling numbers of the South American tapir are due to poaching for meat and hide, as well as habitat destruction. T. terrestris is generally recognized as an endangered animal species, with the species being designated as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on June 2, 1970.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has a significantly lower risk of extinction, though, than the other four tapir species.
Conservation of T. kabomaniEdit
The species may be relatively common in forest-savanna mosaic habitat (relicts of former cerrado). Nevertheless, the species is threatened by prospects of future habitat loss related to deforestation, development and expanding human populations.<ref name=corr/>
While this tapir does not seem to be rare in the upper Madeira River region of the southwestern Brazilian Amazon,<ref name=corr/> its precise conservation status is unknown. T. kabomani is limited by its habitat preference and tends not to be found where its preferred mosaic gives way to either pure savannah or forest.<ref name=corr/> This, in combination with the fact that other less restricted tapir species within the area are already classified as endangered, has led scientists to hypothesize that the new species is likely to prove more endangered than other members of its genus.<ref name=monga/> Human population growth and deforestation within southwestern Amazonia threaten T. kabomani through habitat destruction.<ref name=corr/> The creation of infrastructure such as roads as well as two dams planned for the area as of December 2013 further threaten to considerably alter the home range.<ref name=monga/> Hunting is also a concern. The Karitiana tribe, a group of people indigenous to the area, regularly hunt the tapir.<ref name=monga/> Additional threats exist from crocodilians and jaguars, natural predators of tapirs within the area.<ref name=SanD>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Humans aside, the region of the Amazon in which T. kabomani is found has also been highlighted as an area that is likely to be particularly susceptible to global warming and the ecosystem changes it brings.<ref name=corr/>
History of classificationEdit
Although it was not formally described until 2013, the possibility that T. kabomani might be a distinct species had been suggested as early as 100 years prior. The first specimen recognized as a member of this species was collected on the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition. Theodore Roosevelt (1914) believed they had collected a new species,<ref name=roose>Template:Cite book</ref> as local hunters recognized two types of tapir in the region<ref name=roose/> and another member of the expedition, Leo E. Miller, suggested that two species were present.Template:Efn Nevertheless, though observed by experts, all tapirs from the expedition have been consistently treated as T. terrestris,<ref name=allen/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> including specimen AMNH 36661, which is now identified as T. kabomani.<ref name=corr/> Ten years before T. kabomani was formally described, scientists suspected the existence of a new species while examining skulls that did not resemble the skulls of known tapir species.<ref name = "Draxler2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When the species was formally described in December 2013,<ref name=corr/> it was the first tapir species described since T. bairdii in 1865.<ref name=monga>Template:Cite news</ref>
RelationshipsEdit
In both morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses,<ref name=corr/> T. kabomani was recovered as the first diverging of the three tapirs restricted to South America. Morphological analysis suggested that the closest relative of T. kabomani may be the extinct species T. rondoniensis.<ref name=corr/> Molecular dating methods based on three mitochondrial cytochrome genes gave an approximate divergence time of 0.5 Ma for T. kabomani and the T. terrestris–T. pinchaque clade, while T. pinchaque was found to have arisen within a paraphyletic T. terrestris complex much more recently (in comparison, the split between T. bairdii and the tapirs restricted to South America took place around 5 Ma ago).<ref name=corr/>
ControversyEdit
The validity of the species, and whether or not it can be reliably distinguished from the South American tapir, has subsequently been questioned on both morphological and genetic grounds. Morphological differences between the two species of tapir are noted to be especially difficult to discern in photographs allegedly depicting T. kabomani and noted to be only qualitatively described in the original literature.<ref name=Voss2013>Template:Cite journal</ref> Morphologically, lack of published numerical ranges for diagnostic differences make it incredibly difficult for individuals to be identified in the field as little black tapirs instead of South American tapirs. A heavy reliance upon the indigenous people for identification of T. kabomani was also noted in the major dissenting article. Concerns were cited regarding the reliability of information when it is gathered from locals as, while they are frequently aware of many more species in an area, they can sometimes describe haplotypes of culturally important species to be entirely different species.<ref name=Voss2013/>
Genetic evidence has been questioned on similar grounds. Several examined genetic sequences said to be characteristic for the species, most notably the Cyth sequence of cytochrome b, have been described as minimally divergent from those of other South American tapirs.<ref name=Voss2013/> Further analyses of cytochrome b sequences did reveal a clade allegedly belonging to T. kabomani, however, it was described to be only as divergent as some haplotype found in other species.<ref name=Voss2013/> Mitochondrial DNA originally connected to morphological traits and used to describe the species has also been called into question. Although several samples of T. kabomani have been obtained, only the two samples from southwestern Amazonia were analysed while those obtained in the northwest were not.<ref name=Voss2013/> The connection between the morphology and DNA of supposed T. kabomani in northwestern areas is unknown and there is the possibility that the correlation between mtDNA and morphology is insufficiently supported.<ref name=Voss2013/>
However, besides cytochrome b, two other mitochondrial genes were analyzed, COI and COII, both showing the same pattern found for cytochrome b.<ref name="Cozzuol et al (2014)">Cozzuol, M.A.; de Thoisy, B.; Fernandes-Ferreira, H.; Rodrigues F.H.G. and Santos, F.R. (2014) How much evidence is enough evidence for a new species?. Journal of Mammalogy, 95(4):899-905. 2014. doi:10.1644/14-MAMM-A-182</ref> Several other objections raised against the distinction of T. kabomani from T. terrestris, including external and internal morphological characters, statistical analysis, distribution and use of folk taxonomy, were addressed in Cozzuol et al (2014).<ref name="Cozzuol et al (2014)" />
Further genetic evidence invalidating T. kabomani as a new species was published by Ruiz-Garcia et al. (2016).<ref name=":1" /> Ruiz-Garcia et al. found and sampled tapirs that fit the morphological description provided by Cozzuol et al. (2013) for T. kabomani but they only showed haplotypes of other T. terrestris haplogroups.<ref name=":1" /> In addition, the morphological evidence for T. kabomani has been contradicted by further research.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dumbá et al. reevaluated skull shape variation among tapir species and found that T. kabomani and T. terrestris exhibit considerable overlap in skull morphology, though it could still be distinguished by its broad forehead.<ref name=":2" />
GalleryEdit
- Junger Flachlandtapir.JPG
Young South American tapir at the Dortmund Zoo
- Tapir8.JPG
South American tapir in northern Peru
- Tapir heart (Tapirus terrestris).jpg
South American tapir heart (Tapirus terrestris)
- Tapirus.terrestris.flehmen.jpg
South American tapir performing the Flehmen response
- Brazilian tapir zoo.JPG
- Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) male out of the forest ... - Flickr - berniedup.jpg
Male
- Tapirus terrestris (cropped).jpg
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- ARKive - images and movies of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
- Tapir Specialist Group - Lowland Tapir
- Multiple photographs of T. kabomani can be viewed at this website.
Further readingEdit
- Linnaeus C (1758). Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Hippopotamus terrestris, new species, p. 74). (in Latin).
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