ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucy Cooke is a broadcaster and zoologist, and writes the regular column Female of the Species for BBC Wildlife (flick back to page 27). She is the author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal (Doubleday, £20).
CONSERVATION heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but none as mysterious as the tapir. Latin America's largest native land mammal is a peculiar-looking beast that swims like a hippopotamus and climbs like a goat. It also eats like an elephant, using an elongated prehensile snout to pluck the tastiest fruit and leaves and deliver them into a decidedly equine mouth.
The tapir appears to have been cobbled together from an eclectic assortment of random beasts. The overall effect is quite prehistoric, which is fitting: the tapir hasn't really changed in more than 35 million years, earning it the title of living fossil. Its closest living relative is the rhinoceros. The tapir shares a profoundly shy nature with its distant cousin, which has ensured this jungle giant's secrets have been well-kept - until now. Research is revealing surprising insights into the tapir's private life, including its unlikely role as a four-footed eco-warrior with a smelly secret weapon.
I've always loved odd animals and frankly they don't get much odder than the tapir. So when I got the chance to travel to Costa Rica in late 2021 and hang out with local conservation biologist Esteban Brenes-Mora, AKA "the tapir guy", I jumped at the chance.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من BBC Wildlife.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من BBC Wildlife.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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WHEN DOVES CRY
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FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
To sponge or not to sponge? That is the question for the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) living in Shark Bay, Western Australia.
7 nature encounters for the month ahead
WITH NATURALIST AND AUTHOR BEN HOARE
