''Tapirus californicus'', the California tapir, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

that inhabited

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. Like other perissodactyls, tapirs originated in North America and lived on the North American continent for most of the

Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological Era (geology), era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, Insect, insects, birds and flowering plant, angiosperms (floweri ...

. Fossils of ancient tapirs in North America can be dated back to 50 million-year-old

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

rocks on

Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island (; ) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, which was then a temperate climate.Eberle, J. 2005. A new "tapir" from Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada - Implications for northern high latitude palaeobiogeography and tapir palaeobiology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 277(4): 311-322. By 13 million years ago, tapirs very much like

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

tapirs existed in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

.Colbert, M. and R. Schoch 1998. Tapiroidea and other moropomorphs. In: C. Janis, K. Scott, L. Jacobs, (eds) Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume I: Terrestrial carnivores, ungulates, and ungulate like mammals. Cambridge University Press. During the Pleistocene epoch, there were at least four species of tapir on the North American continent. Along with ''Tapirus californicus'', ''

Tapirus merriami ''Tapirus merriami'', commonly called Merriam's tapir, is an extinct species of tapir which inhabited North America during the Pleistocene. Early history Tapirs have a long history on the North American continent. Fossils of ancient tapirs in No ...

'' was found in California and Arizona, ''

Tapirus veroensis ''Tapirus veroensis'' is an extinct tapir species that lived in the area of the modern eastern and southern United States during the Pleistocene epoch (Irvingtonian-Rancholabrean). ''Tapirus veronensis'' is thought to have gone extinct around 11, ...

'' was found in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, and ''

Tapirus copei ''Tapirus haysii'' is an extinct species of tapir that inhabited North America during the early to middle Pleistocene Epoch (~2.5–1 Ma). These fossil remains of two juvenile ''T. haysii'' were collected in Hillsborough County, Florida on ...

'' was found from Pennsylvania to Florida. By the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, all tapirs disappeared from North America, which coincided with the

extinctions Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its last member. A taxon may become functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to reproduce and recover. As a species' potential range may be ...

of many other groups of

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

in the Americas. ''Tapirus californicus'', like most extant tapirs, was believed to have been a largely solitary animal, and inhabited primarily the coastal regions of Southern California (although one specimen has been found in Oregon), preferring forested environments and possibly grasslands near rivers and lakes. Its maximum weight was about and the estimated body length was , although no known complete fossil skeletal remains have been collected. Study of the skull shows ''T. californicus'' had shortened nasal bones to allow for attachment of strong muscles and ligaments to form a fleshy, prehensile snout like all extant tapirs. It was herbivorous, and its diet is believed to have consisted of shrubs, leaves, aquatic plants, fruits, and seeds. ''T. californicus'' was most likely prey to such predators as ''

Smilodon ''Smilodon'' is an extinct genus of Felidae, felids. It is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats ...

'', dire wolves,

American lion The American lion (''Panthera atrox'' (), with the species name meaning "savage" or "cruel", also called the North American lion) is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 129,000 to 12,800 y ...

s and

paleo-Indians Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

. A number of fossils of ''T. californicus'' have been collected at the

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...

in the modern urban center of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The cluster of tar pits have trapped and preserved many specimens of Pleistocene-era fauna.

Taxonomy

There are multiple pieces of evidence which indicate most, if not all, of the 5 accepted Pleistocene tapir species found in North America (''T. californicus'', '' T. haysii'' (''T. copei''), '' T. lundeliusi'', '' T. merriami'', '' T. veroensis'') may actually belong to the same species. ''T. californicus'' was considered to be a subspecies of ''T. haysii'' by Merriam, ''T. californicus'' and ''T. veroensis'' are nearly impossible to distinguish morphologically and occupy the same time frame, being separated only by location, and ''T. haysii'', ''T. veroensis'', and ''T. lundeliusi'' are already considered so closely related that they occupy the same subgenus (''Helicotapirus''). Additionally, few details distinguish ''T. haysii'' and ''T. veroensis'' except size, date, and wear of teeth; and the intermediate sizes overlap greatly with many specimens originally assigned to one species, then later switched over to another.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7684684 Quaternary mammals of North America Pleistocene Perissodactyla Pleistocene extinctions Prehistoric tapirs Fossil taxa described in 1912