Fun Holidays - World Tapir Day

Tapirs are herbivorous mammals that live in Southeast Asia, Central and South America. Outwardly, they are very similar to pigs, but instead of a snout they have a small trunk. The enemies of tapirs in the wild are predators (jaguars, crocodiles, bears and anacondas), but the main danger to equids comes from humans. People exterminate them for meat and skins and cut down forests - the animals' natural habitat. April 27 is World Tapir Day. The holiday is intended to draw attention to the problem of the extinction of this ancient species of mammals. During archaeological excavations, scientists find the remains of tapir-like animals 55 million years old. A close relative of the rhinoceros, horse and pig, which has existed on the planet for so long, today is on the verge of extinction. Due to hunting and human agricultural activities involving deforestation, only 5 species of animals of the tapir family remain on Earth: mountain, lowland, Central American, black-backed and Tapirus kabomani. These herbivores are very important for the balance of the ecosystem of the habitat, because are carriers of seeds of more than 100 different plants over long distances. An adult animal of the genus Tapirus weighs up to 300 kg and has a body length of about 2 m. Its front legs have hooves with 4 toes, and their hind legs have 3. Thanks to this, tapirs, unlike other herbivores, easily move through swampy jungle terrain and wet forest soil . The main food of the animal is shrubs, tree fruits, their leaves and shoots. Together with their excrement, tapirs spread seeds, easily moving along mountain slopes and difficult tropics with fallen trees. World Tapir Day calls for attention to the extermination of these peace-loving animals, which are friendly and good at interacting with people. Therefore, in captivity they are domesticated and become practically tame. Due to deforestation and lack of food in nature, tapirs are forced to raid plantations of cocoa, melon, mango and sugar cane. This leads to the shooting of animals whose population reproduction is very slow. Mating in tapirs occurs all year round; pregnancy lasts 14 months. Females bring only one cub, reddish-brown in color with spots and longitudinal stripes. The rate of extermination of tapirs exceeds the rate of restoration of the herbivore population. Animals of all 5 remaining species on the planet are facing extinction. World Tapir Day, which since 2008 has been celebrated every year on April 27, is intended to save them from complete extinction.