The American Tapir is hunted for its excessively tough hide, and also for its flesh, which, although described by Europeans as unsavoury, being coarse and dry, is considered palatable by the Indians. It is captured sometimes, although not often, by means of the lasso, an instrument so successful in Horse-catching in America, but often futile as regards the Tapir, for its usual haunts render this mode of capture most difficult, and its determined rush and immense strength frequently enable it to break the strongest lasso. Another way of hunting the Tapir practised by the native hunters is to find out the animal’s track leading to the water; there, with their Dogs, they patiently lie in wait until evening approaches, when the Tapir comes out for the purpose of taking his evening stroll and indulging in the indispensable bath. They then get between him and the water, when a desperate encounter ensues, the Dogs often getting very badly injured.
The most successful manner of catching the Tapir, however, is by means of imitating its whistle or call, thus bringing the animal within range of the Indian’s poisoned arrow.
MALAYAN TAPIR.
The American Tapir is spoken of as being mild in captivity and easily domesticated, and tame Tapirs are permitted to run at large in the streets of the towns of Guiana, and often wander into the forests, but return again in the evening to the house in which they are kept and fed. The Tapir is capable of considerable attachment to its owner, and possibly, by care and attention, might be turned to good account, as the qualities with which it is credited—strength, docility, and patience—ought to render it capable of the duties of a beast of burden.
THE HAIRY TAPIR,[264] the second species of American Tapir, inhabits the inner range of the Cordilleras, this species being strictly mountainous in its habits.
It is stated to differ from the other species of America by not possessing a mane; but has altogether longer hair, and there are no wrinkles on the proboscis. In the conformation of the skull and general characteristics it more nearly resembles the Asiatic Tapir than the American, and is less common than the latter animal.
THE MALAYAN TAPIR.[265]—The Asiatic Tapir, which appears to have become known to Europeans only in the present century—at least, the first certain information of it reached Europe in the year 1816—is an inhabitant of Sumatra, Malacca, and the south-west provinces of China. It is said to have been found also in Borneo. In size it is larger than either T. americanus or T. villosus. It is distinguished by the absence of a mane, the general colour of the hair being glossy black, but with the back, rump, and sides of the belly white.
In its habits the Asiatic Tapir appears to be similar to his American cousin, and in captivity it is said to be of a most mild and inoffensive disposition, becoming as tractable and familiar as a Dog.
FOSSIL TAPIRS.—The living Tapir is known at the present day only in the warmer regions of the New and Old Worlds, in South America, and in the East. In the Pleistocene Age, however, it is proved to have ranged far up the valley of the Mississippi in the United States. In the Miocene and Pliocene Ages the animal inhabited Europe, and its fossil teeth are met with by no means unfrequently in the Crag deposits of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Lophiodon of the European and American Eocenes is also a closely allied form.