Tapirs actually have a fourth toe on the forelegs, but it is small and does not touch ground except in mud. Eyes are small, ears are large, and their distinctively mobile nose is upper lip and nostrils combined, resembling a stubby elephant's trunk. Raising the nose exposes the front teeth. Baird's tapir is the largest New World mammal and the Malayan is the largest tapir. Tapirs are reddish brown to grey-brown, the Malayan being black with white from behind the shoulders across the flank and rump.
Most tapirs have white edges on the ears.
All but the almost woolly Mountain are sparsely haired. Wild - preferring green shoots, tapirs graze and browse on brush, meadow and aquatic vegetation. They all will eat fruit, but the Malayan is quite fond of it. When pursued, tapirs will dash through dense vegetation. Paths through edge vegetation and thickets are used and reused forming depressed paths and tunnels.