The Future of Malayan Tapirs

Malayan tapirs are shy, solitary, and crepuscular mammals found near the Malaysian rainforest’s riverbanks. They spend most of their time in rivers to hide from predators such as tigers, leopards, and dholes. They use their prehensile proboscises as snorkels while wading through water. Malayan tapirs’ diets consist of leaves, shrubs, grasses, fruits, and aquatic vegetation. Their strange black and white coloration breaks up their outlines and confuses natural predators. In the future, Malayan tapirs will have longer proboscises, which will allow them to swim in deeper water and submerge their heads completely. Their diet will consist solely of aquatic plants, and they will spend most of their time traveling underwater. To better camouflage with the water, tapirs will take on the appearance of babies halfway to adulthood. Rather than being solitary, crepuscular creatures, tapirs will travel in groups during the day and sleep together at night when there’s less wildfires.