Loading page content
“Brazilian tapirs are odd-toed ungulates, related more closely to horses and rhinos than to pigs.”
The Brazilian tapir is a large forest herbivore of South America with a short flexible snout. It browses leaves and fruit near rivers, spreads seeds, and swims strongly through wetlands.
Tapirus terrestrisPerissodactylaTapiridae
Browse photographs of Brazilian tapir across habitat, behavior, anatomy, and life stages.
Click any photo to view it larger. 8 images available.
Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
The Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris), also called the South American or lowland tapir, is a barrel-shaped browser of humid South American forest. A short flexible snout grabs leaves and fruit, while strong swimming skills link rivers, swamps, and wallows. As one of the region’s largest native land mammals, this herbivore shapes forests by moving seeds along muddy trails — and it is listed as Vulnerable.
Brazilian tapirs are odd-toed ungulates in the order Perissodactyla, the same broad group that includes horses and rhinoceroses. They belong to the family Tapiridae and the genus Tapirus. Four living tapir species remain worldwide; T. terrestris is the widespread lowland species of South America.
Their body plan is ancient: a bulky trunk, short mane, and mobile proboscis suited to pulling browse from understory plants. Fossils show tapirs once ranged more widely; today’s Brazilian tapir hangs on in remaining rainforest, gallery forest, and wetland mosaics such as the Pantanal.
Adults commonly stretch 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) from nose to rump and stand roughly 30 to 42 inches (77 to 108 cm) at the shoulder. Weight often falls between 330 and 550 pounds (150 to 250 kg). Dark brown coats look almost black when wet; a stiff mane runs from the crown down the neck.
The fleshy snout is prehensile enough to strip leaves and lift fallen fruit. Eyes sit high for peeking while swimming. Toes spread on soft mud, and thick skin shrugs off vines and insect bites. Calves wear a temporary “watermelon” pattern of white stripes and spots that fades as they mature.
Brazilian tapirs occupy much of tropical and subtropical South America — from the Guianas and Amazon basin through Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and into parts of Argentina and Paraguay. They favor moist forest near permanent water: river edges, flooded woodlands, swamps, and mosaic wetlands.
Daily routes often connect fruiting trees, mineral licks, and cool mud wallows. Where forests shrink to strips along streams, tapirs may still move if cover and water remain continuous. Large home ranges mean even “empty-looking” forest can be fully used by a few adults.
Leaves, twigs, buds, fruit, and aquatic plants dominate the diet. The snout selects preferred browse without needing giraffe-tall reach. Many seeds survive digestion and sprout in dung, so tapirs act as important long-distance seed dispersers for tropical trees.
Feeding intensifies at dawn, dusk, and night when heat and human traffic ease. During fruiting seasons they follow pulses of fallen crops; in leaner months they shift toward tougher foliage and riverside plants. Salt or mineral-rich soil may draw animals to shared lick sites.
Adults are mostly solitary except when breeding or when a mother accompanies her calf. Paths and scent marks advertise presence without constant face-to-face meetings. When startled, a tapir may crash into cover or plunge into water — both jaguars and people have pushed them to rely on that escape habit.
They wallow to cool skin and shed parasites. Soft nasal whistles, clicks, and snorts communicate over short distances in dense vegetation. Overlapping ranges around rich fruit patches can look social, but lasting herds are not typical for this species.
Gestation lasts about 13 months. Usually a single calf is born and stays hidden nearby while nursing. Stripes camouflage the young on the forest floor; the calf follows the mother for many months and may remain nearby for roughly a year as it learns trails and food plants.
Slow breeding means populations recover poorly after overhunting. Wild individuals can live into their twenties; well-managed care can push longevity higher. Because calves need long maternal investment, protecting adult females matters as much as protecting habitat alone.
(Population and conservation trend data sourced from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
The Brazilian tapir is classified as Vulnerable, and many regional populations are decreasing. Deforestation, roadkill, hunting for meat, and wetland drainage fragment once-continuous ranges. Isolated groups lose genetic exchange when river corridors are cleared.
Protecting large forest blocks, enforcing hunting bans, keeping riparian buffers, and reducing road mortality help. Restoring fruiting trees along corridors also supports the seed-dispersal role that keeps forests regenerating for capybaras, sloths, and countless plants that share the same landscapes.
Brazilian tapirs are odd-toed ungulates, related more closely to horses and rhinos than to pigs.
Their fleshy snout works like a short trunk for grabbing leaves and fruit.
Calves are born with white stripes and spots for camouflage.
They are strong swimmers and often cool off in rivers.
Fruit seeds they drop help regenerate tropical forests.
They are among the largest surviving native land mammals in the Amazon basin.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A Brazilian tapir (also called South American or lowland tapir) is a large mammal in the family Tapiridae. It lives in wet forests and river landscapes across much of South America.
They live in humid forest, flooded woodland, and wetland mosaics from northern South America through Brazil, Peru, and neighboring countries.
They are herbivores that browse leaves, twigs, fruit, buds, and aquatic plants. Their snout helps pull food from bushes and understory trees.
Calves wear white stripes and spots that break up their outline in dappled forest light. The pattern fades as they grow denser adult coats.
Neither. Tapirs are odd-toed ungulates related to horses and rhinoceroses. The snout only looks a little like a miniature elephant trunk.
The species is listed as Vulnerable. Hunting and forest clearance continue to shrink many local populations.
Adults often weigh 330 to 550 pounds and measure about 6 to 8 feet long. They are South America’s largest surviving native terrestrial mammal in many Amazon forests.
Yes. They are confident swimmers and may dive, float, or cross rivers to feed, cool down, or escape predators such as jaguars.
Related animals
