Tapir

ta'per, a tropical animal between the hog and the rhinoceros. The body is clumsy and is covered with scanty, black hair. The legs are thick and stout, with four small hoofs on the forefoot and three on the hind foot. The snout, which is flexible, is prolonged a few inches beyond the mouth, and is quite suggestive of an elephant's trunk. The common tapir of Brazil is about five feet long and three feet high. It lives in swampy places and feeds on vegetables, fruits, and herbs. It swims and dives with pleasure. Its chief enemy is the anaconda. Its skin is valuable for leather, and its flesh is used for food. A smaller species inhabits the wooded slopes of the Andes. A third species, the largest of all, ranges in the forests of Sumatra and adjacent islands of Malaysia. See Swine; Peccary