tapiridæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A family of lophiodontoid perissodactyl ungulate mammals, having four front toes and three hind toes, and the snout produced into a short proboscis; the tapirs. They are a lingering remnant of once numerous and diversifled forms. Their nearest relatives are the extinct Lophiodontidæ, and among living forms the rhinoceroses (not the swine, with which tapirs are popularly associated). The species are very few, though widely dispersed in both hemispheres. The genera are only 3—Tapirus, the scarcely different Rhinochærus, and the well-marked Elasmognathus, peculiar in the ossifled nasal septum and some other cranial characters. The flrst and last of these are American, and the other is Malayan. See also cuts under tapir and Perissodactyla.