A long time ago, a very special baby tapir was born in a rainforest in Brazil.
At first, he looked like any other baby tapir, with stripes and spots and a funny little nose, but soon he grew bumps on his forehead and shoulders.
His mother was worried that something was wrong with her baby, but he seemed healthy and happy, so she loved him no matter what.
The bumps grew and grew and soon became a horn in the middle of his forehead and a pair of wings. None of the other tapirs had ever seen this happen before, but the baby tapir didn't care because he was able to fly and that was a lot of fun.
One day as he was flying around, he saw that the rainforest that he and all the other tapirs lived in seemed to be getting smaller. Trees and plants that he remembered seeing just weeks before were no longer there and neither were the animals, birds, and insects that lived in them. He learned from some of the other animals that humans were the ones taking their forest away from them.
This made him very sad, so he wanted to do something to help. He knew that he was special since he had a horn and wings, so he decided to use that to show people that there were special things in the rainforest that were worth saving.
So he said goodbye to his mother and the other tapirs and flew away to the zoo. He figured that if people could see him at the zoo, they would care about his rainforest and do things to save it. He didn't know that humans wouldn't be able to see the horn and the wings! Only other animals could see them. Even if he tried flying, to a human, it looked like he was just jumping.
But to his surprise, that didn't seem to matter at all! The people at the zoo had never seen a tapir before and they all thought he was a wonderful animal. When they learned of this, more tapirs decided to join zoos all over the world so that more people could see them and then more people would care. Sure enough, when the people found out that the tapirs' home was in danger, they got together to raise money to save it.
There are still many tapirs living in zoos. They are there to teach everyone about tapirs and the rainforest. And who knows? Maybe one of the tapirs you see is actually the little tapiricorn with his horn and wings.
They saved a lot of the rainforest, but other people who don't care about the tapirs and other animals who call it home are still taking it away from them. How can you help? One very simple thing you can do is go to this website and click the green button: The Rainforest Site.
Did you know? Today is World Tapir Day! World Tapir Day occurs every year on April 27. The purpose is to celebrate and educate about this wonderful, endangered animal. In honor of World Tapir Day, here are some fun facts about tapirs:
- There are four species of tapirs: The Asian or Malayan Tapir, which lives in Southeast Asia; The Mountain Tapir, which lives in Colombia and Ecuador; The Brazilian or Lowland Tapir, which lives in the rainforests of South America; and Baird's Tapir, which lives in Mexico and Central America. All are considered endangered.
- Though their flexible noses might remind you of elephants, they are not related to elephants at all. They are actually related to rhinoceroses and horses!
- Tapirs are herbivores, which means they only eat plants.
- Tapirs use their flexible noses to pluck leaves and fruit off of plants.
- Tapirs love to swim in water and wallow in mud.
- Though the different species of tapir look different, the babies are all born with stripes and spots.
"Tapiricorn" and "Tapir Family" pictures are available on various products such as t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and more at my Cafe Press store here: http://www.cafepress.com/snafflepod/6652756
~ESD
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