How big does a South American tapir get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris) reaches an average size of 2.01 meter (6′ 7″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 35 years, they grow from 4.51 kg (9.95 lbs) to 167.75 kg (369.82 lbs). A South American tapir has 1 babies at once. The South American tapir (genus: Tapirus) is a member of the family Tapiridae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
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, in Portuguese anta, and in mixed Quechua and Spanish sachavaca (literally “bushcow”), is one of the four widely recognized species in the tapir family, along with the mountain tapir, the Malayan tapir, and Baird’s tapir. The South American tapir is the largest surviving native terrestrial mammal in the Amazon.
Animals of the same family as a South American tapir
We found other animals of the Tapiridae family:
- Mountain tapir with 1 babies per litter
- Malayan tapir with a size of 2.22 meter (7′ 4″)
- Baird’s tapir with a size of 2.2 meter (7′ 3″)
Animals with the same size as a South American tapir
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as South American tapir:
- Tiger with a size of 1.83 meter (6′ 0″)
- Onager with a size of 2.25 meter (7′ 5″)
- Moose with a size of 2.1 meter (6′ 11″)
- Blue wildebeest with a size of 2.01 meter (6′ 8″)
- Lesser kudu with a size of 1.68 meter (5′ 6″)
- Sambar deer with a size of 2.04 meter (6′ 9″)
- Tamaraw with a size of 2.2 meter (7′ 3″)
- Spinner dolphin with a size of 2.13 meter (7′ 0″)
- Spectacled bear with a size of 1.77 meter (5′ 10″)
- Common tsessebe with a size of 1.7 meter (5′ 7″)
Animals with the same litter size as a South American tapir
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a South American tapir:
- Gould’s long-eared bat
- Dwarf slit-faced bat
- Hirola
- Long-tailed pangolin
- Narrow-striped mongoose
- Bushy-tailed mongoose
- New Zealand sea lion
- Steller’s sea cow
- Large slit-faced bat
- Sooty mustached bat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a South American tapir
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a South American tapir:
- Bowhead whale with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Walrus with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Red-faced spider monkey with an average maximal age of 37.75 years
- Harp seal with an average maximal age of 42 years
- Cuvier’s beaked whale with an average maximal age of 36 years
- Onager with an average maximal age of 38.75 years
- Hooded seal with an average maximal age of 35 years
- Northern giraffe with an average maximal age of 36.25 years
- Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth with an average maximal age of 32.08 years
- Guanaco with an average maximal age of 28.25 years
Animals with the same weight as a South American tapir
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tapirus terrestris:
- Bluebuck with a weight of 150 kilos (330.69 lbs)
- Gemsbok with a weight of 187.6 kilos (413.59 lbs)
- Caribbean monk seal with a weight of 198.38 kilos (437.35 lbs)
- Sambar deer with a weight of 176 kilos (388.01 lbs)
- Giant forest hog with a weight of 196.57 kilos (433.36 lbs)
- Sambar deer with a weight of 177.52 kilos (391.36 lbs)
- Eastern gorilla with a weight of 149.33 kilos (329.22 lbs)
- Atlantic white-sided dolphin with a weight of 186.76 kilos (411.73 lbs)
- Irrawaddy dolphin with a weight of 190 kilos (418.88 lbs)
- Thorold’s deer with a weight of 161.68 kilos (356.44 lbs)