What is very large looks like a pig, but has white spots and stripes when born? A Baird's Tapir! This animal at birth does have white stripes and spots, but at adulthood it is dark brownish grayish. The Baird's Tapir can also grow to a length of 2 meters, and also 1.2 meters in height. The Baird's Tapir also lives by feeding and protecting their children. It also lays in water on hot or warm days, and it can also lay in there for hours. They do pretty well in their environment, and have what I would call a peaceful life.

 

They are found in dense jungles, rainforests, and much more places that are in Central America. Well we don't exactly know how many Baird's Tapir there are in the world. We do have an estimate though, there are probably 200-2,500 left in the world because they are endangered species.

 

Their population should be growing, because it is illegal to hunt them. The thing that is contributing to any decline in their numbers would be illegal hunting. Although this animal maybe big and look like it needs meat, but it does not because it is an herbivore. Whom they compete for food would be other herbivores. They must also eat a large amount of food daily. Now even though they have peaceful lives they still need to survive. They have to survive from being eaten by other animals such as crocodiles, alligators, and big cats.

 

Tapirs avoid being eaten by these animals using their size and other things. Some other interesting facts are: that they are the largest group of all three Tapirs. Also another interesting fact is that at the age of 3 weeks they can finally swim! They are pretty cool animals Huh!!

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Author: Mary K

Published: 02/2009

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Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baird's_Tapir http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tapirus_bairdii.html http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Perissodactyla/Tapirus_bairdii.html Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Central_American_Tapir-Belize20.jpg