This is one of the most remarkable of living mammals, and one of the greatest puzzles to zoologists, having no near living relatives. Though bearing some resemblance to an earless rabbit, it really belongs to the hoofed animals, and amongst them comes perhaps somewhat nearer the rhinoceros than to any other animal. It is the Coney of the Bible. It inhabits the rocky districts of Syria and parts of Africa. It is a vegetable-feeder, and very wary. About a dozen species are known.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen.
COMMON AMERICAN TAPIR.
This tapir inhabits tropical America. It is a nocturnal animal, frequenting the depths of shady forests in the neighbourhood of water, to which it frequently resorts for the purpose of bathing, or as a refuge from pursuit.
THE RHINOCEROS.
BY F. C. SELOUS.
Of the five existing species of Rhinoceros, three are found in Asia, whilst two are inhabitants of Africa.
Of the three Asiatic species, two, the Indian and the Javan, are one-horned, and have a single pair of broad incisor teeth in the upper jaw, and a pair of sharp-edged and pointed tusks in the lower, the nasal bones being long and narrow, and terminating in a point. In both these species the skin is hairless (except for tufts or fringes at the extremity of the tail and on the edges of the ears), and is arranged in shield-like folds over the body. The arrangement of these folds, however, differs somewhat in the two species, and the large round tubercles with which the skin of the great Indian rhinoceros is profusely studded are wanting in the Javan species.
The Indian Rhinoceros inhabits the Terai at the foot of the Himalaya from Bhutan to Nepal, and is said to be very abundant in Assam and the Bhutan Dooars. It frequents swampy ground, and lives amongst jungles and dense growths of reeds and grass, which attain a height sometimes of 20 feet, and cover vast areas of ground in the valley of the Brahmaputra and other rivers.