Giant tapir

Giant Tapir
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene to early Holocene[1][2]
fossil skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Superfamily: Tapiroidea
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Species: T. augustus
Binomial name
Tapirus augustus
Matthew & Granger; 1923
Synonyms
  • Megatapirus augustus Matthew & Granger; 1923
Comparison of the giant tapir and the Malayan tapir

The giant tapir (Tapirus augustus)[3][4][5] is an extinct tapir that lived in southern China, reports also suggest it also lived in Java and Vietnam. It appeared in the Early Pleistocene and perhaps survived up until the early Holocene.[2][1] It was larger than modern tapirs, estimations range from 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) long and 0.9 metres (3.0 ft) tall at the shoulders to 3.5 metres (11 ft) long, and 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) metres tall at the shoulders. It may have weighed up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). Originally placed in its own subgenus Megatapirus, the species is now conventionally placed within Tapirus.[3][1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The biggest tapir". Tetrapod Zoology. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  2. 1 2 Haowen, Tong, Liu Jinyi, and Han Ligang. "On fossil remains of early Pleistocene tapir (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from Fanchang, Anhui." Chinese Science Bulletin 47.7 (2002): 586-590.
  3. 1 2 1871-1930., Matthew, William Diller,; 1872-1941., Granger, Walter,; 1884-1960., Andrews, Roy Chapman,; (1921-1930), Central Asiatic Expeditions (1923). "New fossil mammals from the Pliocene of Sze-chuan, China. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 48, article 17".
  4. ↑ Janis, Christine M.; Scott, Kathleen M.; Jacobs, Louis L. (1998-05-28). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 1, Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate Like Mammals. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521355193.
  5. ↑ "Fossilworks: Tapirus (Megatapirus) augustus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2017-07-18.


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