any of four species of hoofed mammals, the only extant members of the family Tapiridae (order Perissodactyla), found in tropical forests of Malaysia and the New World. Heavy-bodied and rather short-legged, tapirs are 1.8 to 2.5 m (about 6 to 8 feet) long and reach about 1 m at the shoulder. The eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, and the snout extends into a short fleshy proboscis, or trunk, that hangs down over the upper lip. The feet have three functional toes, the first (inner) being absent, and the fifth reduced in front and absent in the hind foot. Body hair is short and usually sparse but fairly dense in the mountain tapir (T. pinchaque, formerly T. roulini). There is a short, bristly mane in the Central American, or Baird's, tapir (T. bairdii) and the South American lowland tapir (T. terrestris; see photograph-->). This geographic distribution, with three species in Central and South America and one in Southeast Asia, is peculiar. Fossil remains from Europe, China, and North America show that tapirs were once widespread, but the extinction of intermediate forms has isolated the living species.