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South American Tapir
Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist

Deer, peccaries & tapir

South American Tapir

Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758)

bofru Sranan Tongobuffel Surinamese Dutch
VU VulnerableOn Suriname's list of threatened fauna

Names

EnglishSouth American Tapir
DutchLaaglandtapir
SpanishTapir amazónico
Chinese低地貘
Sranan Tongobofru
Surinamese Dutchbuffel
Scientific nameTapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758)

About this species

The South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi tapi'ira), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, anta (Brazilian Portuguese), and sachavaca (literally "bushcow", in mixed Quechua and Spanish), is one of the four recognized species in the tapir family (of the order Perissodactyla, with the mountain tapir, the Malayan tapir, and the Baird's tapir). It is the largest surviving native terrestrial mammal in the Amazon.

Most classifications also include Tapirus kabomani (also known as the dwarf black tapir or the kabomani tapir) as also belonging to the species Tapirus terrestris (Brazilian tapir), despite its questionable existence and the overall lack of information on its habits and distribution. The specific epithet derives from arabo kabomani, the word for tapir in the local Paumarí language. The formal description of this tapir did not suggest a common name for the species. The Karitiana people call it the little black tapir.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderPerissodactyla
FamilyTapiridae
GenusTapirus

In Suriname

232Records in Suriname
20iNaturalist observations
1830First record
2026Latest record

Where it has been recorded

  • Brokopondo148
  • Sipaliwini14
  • Saramacca1

Districts with at least one record that has coordinates. Shaded districts have records.

Records by month

All years combined.

Sources & credits

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