Tapirs are large, herbivorous mammals recognized by their distinctive, flexible prehensile snouts. Their diet is fundamental to their existence and plays a significant role in the ecosystems they inhabit, primarily the forests and wetlands of Central and South America and Southeast Asia.
Main Food Sources
Tapirs consume a diverse array of plant materials, making them both browsers and grazers. Their diet consists primarily of leaves, twigs, buds, and young, tender vegetation. They also frequently eat a variety of fruits and berries, especially seasonal ones. Beyond terrestrial plants, tapirs also incorporate aquatic vegetation, seeds, and tree bark into their diet. A single Baird’s tapir, for example, can consume approximately 40 kilograms (85 pounds) of vegetation in a single day.
How Tapirs Forage
Their most notable feature, the prehensile snout, acts like a flexible finger, enabling them to grasp and strip leaves from branches or root around for fallen fruits and soft vegetation, and this highly flexible organ can move in all directions, allowing them to reach foliage that would otherwise be inaccessible. These mammals often forage along well-worn trails, with their snouts close to the ground to detect food. Tapirs are largely nocturnal or crepuscular, meaning they are most active during dawn and dusk. They move through their habitats, including forests and water bodies, seeking out diverse food sources, and when in water, they can use their snout as a snorkel while submerged, sometimes walking along riverbeds to feed on soft aquatic plants.
Dietary Variations and Ecological Role
The precise composition of a tapir’s diet can vary depending on its specific species and the food availability within its habitat, and while all four extant species—Baird’s, Malayan, Lowland (Brazilian), and Mountain tapirs—share a general herbivorous diet of leaves, fruits, and twigs, the exact plant species consumed will differ geographically. For instance, a study of lowland tapirs in Peru identified 122 different seeds in their dung, highlighting their varied intake. Tapirs play a significant ecological role as seed dispersers, often referred to as “gardeners of the forest.” By consuming fruits and subsequently defecating the seeds, they contribute to the regeneration of forests. Their large size and long gut retention times allow them to disperse a wide range of seed sizes over long distances, including seeds that other animals might not be able to spread, and this process aids in maintaining plant diversity and the overall health of their ecosystems.