| Dentition of Tapir. |
The tapir is not found in India proper, but the Malayan species is occasionally to be come across in Burmah, having been killed in Tenasserim.
[NO. 428. TAPIRUS MALAYANUS.]
The Malay Tapir.
NATIVE NAMES.—Ta-ra-shu, Burmese; Kuda-ayer, Malayan; Sala-dang of the Limuns in Sumatra; Gindol of the Mannas in Sumatra; Babi-alu in Bencoolen; Tennu in Malacca.
HABITAT.—Tenasserim provinces, as high as the fifteenth degree north latitude; Lower Siam; the Malayan peninsula; Sumatra and Borneo.
| Tapirus Malayanus. |
DESCRIPTION.—General colour glossy black, but with the back, rump, and sides of the belly white. The young are beautifully variegated, being striped and spotted with yellow fawn on the upper parts of the body, and with white below.
Mr. Mason writes: "Though seen so rarely, the tapir is by no means uncommon in the interior of the Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have frequently come upon its recent footmarks, but it avoids the inhabited parts of the country. It has never been heard of north of the valley of the Tavoy river."