Tapirs

Alex Re (00:00): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you, you're going to come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This week. We're talking about an animal that you may not have even heard of before. They look a little strange, like a bunch of different animals combined together, but they're extremely vital to the ecosystems that they live in. So you might want to take some pictures because we're heading over to Central America, south America, and Asia to talk about tapers.

(00:55): Now, unlike many of the other animals that we've talked about, this one is a little less well known, so let me give you a little description of them. Your first thought might be that they look like a small elephant mixed with a pig. They have a barrel shaped body, which is rounded at the bottom and tapered at their head, which allows them to easily maneuver through dense vegetation. Tapers also have an extended upper lip and nose that resembles a short trunk, and you'll find out what these trunks are used for. Later on in the episode. There are four different taper species. The mountain taper, the South American taper, the Malian Taper and Baird's taper. The mountain taper, which is also called the wooly taper, lives high in the Andes mountains and they're called wooly because they have a thicker coat than the other species, which allows them to stay warm.

(01:47): Other species live in more humid and tropical areas so they don't have to worry about the cold weather too much Bairds, south American and mountain tapers all have brown hair on their bodies, whereas Millan tapers have a black head with a white colored saddle pattern on their back. This coloration allows tapers to blend into the surrounding vegetation of their habitat. Young tapers are brown with white spots, and these spots are a form of camouflage. As this pattern mimics the appearance of sunlight on the forest floor. They're really amazing creatures to look at, and unfortunately they're in danger of becoming extinct, but more on that later tapers are native to the forests and grasslands of central and South America and also Asia. In many places, they're the region's largest land mammal. Tapers are on average around 30 to 40 inches tall at their shoulders, and they can weigh anywhere from 500 to 800 pounds. The largest taper species is the black and white Malian taper. This species is found in Southeast Asia and grows to 800 pounds. Malian tapers inhabit forests and swamps of Malaysia and Sumatra Tapers are an ancient animal, first appearing during the eocene over 20 million years ago and are most closely related to horses and rhinoceros, even though they appear to look more like pigs.

(03:17): And one of the ways that we know that they're related to horses and rhinoceros is because of the number of toes that they have on their feet. Although it's unknown how many species of tapers have lived throughout history, there are now only four surviving taper species Worldwide. Natural predators of tapers include jaguars, pumas, and large crocodiles. Now let's take a quick break to hear about the science word of the day. The science word that I want to talk to you about today is osmosis. Osmosis is the process of water diffusing through a membrane either moving into or out of a cell. This process is one of the most important ways that our cells maintain balance, also known as homeostasis.

(04:24): Okay, we're back. As I mentioned earlier, tapers have trunks, and these trunks are prehensile, meaning that they can be used as kind of like an arm. The trunks are an extension of the animal's nose and upper lip. They use their trunks to grab branches and rip the leaves off of them, and they're also used to pluck fruits from trees and bushes. Their diet is composed of all kinds of different things like leaves, grass, moss, and even aquatic vegetation. Baird's tapers, which can be found in Mexico, were observed to have eaten over 68 different plant species. Because they mostly eat plants, they would be classified as herbivores. They're also usually crepuscular, meaning that they're active during the morning and the evening. Rather than searching for new feeding grounds every day during feeding hours, tapers are able to follow the paths where the vegetation has been padded down due to the footsteps of other tapers.

(05:25): They follow these paths until they reach watering holes and feeding grounds as they wander and defecate. They're also helping to disperse seeds throughout the forest. Tapers are browsers, meaning that they spend nearly 90% of their active hours foraging for food. And although they love fruit, it consists of a very small portion of their daily diet. Only one to 2% leaves and other fiber sources make up a majority of their diet. Tapers reproduce much more slowly than most other mammals, and this is actually one of the reasons why their populations are declining. They're being killed at a faster rate than they can give birth at their pregnancies last 13 to 14 months, and they can only give birth to one baby per pregnancy after the female taper, also known as a cow gives birth. She'll typically wait approximately 17 months before she mates again. Tapers are monogamous, so each individual only mates with one other individual during the reproductive season lasting from May to June once born.

(06:33): If the baby is healthy, it'll be able to stand within the first or second hour of its life, and it begins to suckle after two to five hours. Once the calf is two weeks old, it'll start to eat solid food and the following week it'll begin to swim. Weaning occurs when the calf is six to eight months old and taper babies stay with their mothers for 12 to 18 months before they're ready to go off on their own. Young tapers are able to reproduce once they're around three years old and can live for 30 years. Tapers are very solitary and secretive animals. They only become social during the mating season, and studies have shown that once taper offspring separate from their mothers, they maintain a large distance between themselves and their parents. Even if they come across their parent, the taper will not want anything to do with them, but when they do need to communicate with other individuals, their trunks come in handy.

(07:33): This elongated nose gives tapers an incredible sense of smell, and they use the smell to pick up on chemical signals called pheromones that are left by other tapers when finding a suitable habitat. They've been known to strip the bark off of oak trees to mark sites between different habitats. You'll also notice that tapers have pretty large ears, and this is because they have a really good sense of hearing. This is useful to listen for predators walking through the brush, but it's also used to hear sounds made by other tapers. They can communicate to one another through whistles, clicks, and other calls that kind of sound like hiccups. These vocalizations are made both through their mouths and through their noses and are typically used when mating threatened in pain or to settle conflicts. Certain calls are used as warning signs to other members of their community, so a good sense of hearing and smell are very important for the life of a taper, and this makes up for the fact that they don't have the best eyesight. Let's take our last break, and when we get back we'll talk about some more taper behaviors. It is time for our trivia of the day. How many cells are in the human body, a, around 37,000 B, around 37 million C, around 37 billion or D around 37 trillion.

(09:20): The answer is D. We have around 37 trillion cells in our bodies

(09:33): Welcome back. Although they're large animals, tapers love the water and they submerge themselves into it to cool off. Most species live in hot and humid climates, so cooling down is important. They're also excellent swimmers, and they'll dive down to feed on aquatic vegetation. They're extremely fast and agile in the water. In addition to the water, they also wallow in mud to cool off. The mud also helps to remove ticks from their hides. Just like elephants, they can use their noses as snorkels. Tapers prefer to live in areas that have smaller vegetation and are more swampy rather than rainforests. And this gives them an advantage for a few different reasons. One reason is that these areas usually have permanent bodies of water, and the areas are also abundant in a lot of different types of vegetation. Another reason why they like to live here is that predators are not as prevalent in these habitats as they are in mature rainforests.

(10:38): Tapers have unique footprints as they have four toes on their front feet and three toes on their hind feet. The shape of their feet allows them to run quickly through the forest, and because their toes are more spread out, it means that they can easily walk on really muddy surfaces without sinking down. And as I mentioned earlier, tapers prefer to be solitary except for during breeding season. But if resources are scarce, they've been known to gather in groups and in captivity. They're a lot more social than in the wild. Tapers are really important to the biodiversity of the ecosystems that they live in, and they're classified as an umbrella species because their habitat has so many other organisms living in it. So if tapers are protected, all of these other species will be too. I also talked about how great they are at dispersing seeds throughout the ecosystem.

(11:33): They eat all kinds of different fruits, so they help to keep these trees thriving throughout the forest, and that's extremely vital right now because trees are being cut down at an alarming rate. Tapers are actually nicknamed gardeners of the forest because of all the fruit that they eat and the amount of seeds that they disperse. They're also a preyed species for different top predators like jaguars and crocodiles. Unfortunately, tapers are a globally endangered species. They're threatened by forest fires, people building new infrastructure, disease, transmission from domestic animals, water pollution, and climate change. There are only about 2,500 Malian tapers left in the world. One of their largest issues though is over hunting. Tapers are highly valued by game hunters because they provide a lot of meat, and even the smallest bit of hunting can dramatically impact the taper populations because they reproduce so slowly. According to a study done by Jeremy m Koster, who's the program director at the National Science Foundation, central American hunting of tapers has exceeded the sustainable limit for 15 years, and hunting tapers has actually had an impact on their behavior.

(12:51): We talked about how they're normally crepuscular, meaning that they're active during the morning and the evening. Well, many tapers have switched to being only nocturnal to avoid being hunted. So what can we do to help taper populations? Well, conservationists in Mexico are working to revive their populations by protecting their habitats, getting the community involved and educating people on tapers. If you want to help tapers, you should definitely check out the Taper Specialist Group, inspire Adventures and Mountain Taper Conservation Project. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of tapers. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife or on TikTok at Wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode, and that's On Wildlife.

Jess Avellino (14:05): You've Been listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional financial, real estate, tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.