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✎ Natalia Guzmán

✎ Natalia Guzmán

✎ Camilo Alméciga

Andean Tapir
Tapirus pinchaqueAndean region

  • Generalities
  • Morpho-functionality
  • Lifecycle
  • Distribution

RECORRIDO VIRTUAL POR LA BIODIVERSIDAD DE COLOMBIA
Museo de Historia Natural
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Andean Tapir
Tapirus pinchaque

It is the smallest of the Colombian tapirs. Recognizable by its peculiar coat and by a light spot around the mouth. It is nocturnal and generally solitary. Its main food consists of leaves and fruits of plants from the high mountains, its ecological role as a disperser of seeds is vital for the ecosystems in which it inhabits. It is at risk because the loss and fragmentation of its habitat.

Conservation status

Extinct

Extinct in the Wild

Critically Endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near Threatened

Least Concern

Not Evaluated

Data Deficient

Morpho-functionality

Trunk

Its trunk allows it to bring vegetation closer to its snout, in addition it facilitates to have a large sense of smell.

Front legs

On its front legs it has a small toe that does not touch the ground, but helps it move through muddy terrain.

Teeth

It has highly developed upper canines that allow it to pass through fruits and roots that it encounters along the way.

Lifecycle

The gestation period lasts thirteen months, and reproduction occurs before the start of the rainy season, early birth occurs in the rainy season the following year. The female has a single calf every two years, weighing 4 to 7 kg. The calf is hidden for a week and then begins to follow its mother for the first year. The female suckles him for six months. The juvenile's coat coloring pattern is dark reddish brown with yellow and white stripes and spots. This pattern is lost after six months. Sexual maturity is reached around three or four years of age. Its life expectancy is 30 years.

Andean Tapir

Distribution

It inhabits the high north of the Andean paramos, cloud forests and grasslands of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador at least 2,000 m above sea level.

Distribution area