Baird's tapir

noun

: a tapir (Tapirus bairdii) that is mostly reddish-brown or dark brown with white on the tips of the ears and often on the underside of the jaw and neck and is found from southern Mexico to parts of Colombia and Ecuador west of the Andes

… perhaps the most interesting animal was the Baird's tapir, an ungainly looking creature somewhere between an undersized elephant and an overgrown anteater. The largest animal in the neotropics, it is also among the most endangered.

—Bryn Nelson, Newsday, 12 Oct. 2003

called also Central American tapir

Word History

Etymology

after Spencer F. Baird †1887 American zoologist

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined above

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