Endangered
Mountain tapir
Tapirus pinchaque
Mountain tapir is a mammal in the family Tapiridae (order Perissodactyla) — Tapirus pinchaque, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
Mountain tapirs are black or very dark brown, with occasional pale hairs flecked in amongst the darker fur. The fur becomes noticeably paler on the underside, around the anal region, and on the cheeks. A distinct white band runs around the lips, although it may vary in extent, and there are usually also white bands along the upper surface of the ears.
The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir, is the smallest of the four widely recognized species of tapir.
Unlike all other species of tapir, the fur is long and woolly, especially on the underside and flanks, reaching 3.5 cm (1.4 in) or more in some individuals.
Range and habitat
The mountain tapir is found in the cloud forests and páramo of the Eastern and Central Cordilleras mountains in Colombia, Ecuador, and the far north of Peru. Its range may once have extended as far as western Venezuela, but it has long been extirpated from that region. During the wet season, mountain tapirs tend to inhabit the forests of the Andes, while during the drier months, they move to the páramo, where fewer biting insects pester them.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Tapirs are herbivores, and eat a wide range of plants, among them leaves, grasses, and bromeliads. Female mountain tapirs have a 30-day estrous cycle, and typically breed only once every other year.
During courtship, the male chases the female and uses soft bites, grunts, and squeals to get her attention, while the female responds with frequent squealing.
In crisis
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Mountain tapir is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Mountain tapir, Wikidata item Q223960. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
