All toes have hooves, and each foot has a callous pad which supports some of the weight. The front half of the tapir's body and hind legs is black, and the rear half above the legs is white. Lying down in the day, it resembles a large rock. While foraging at night, the tapir blends in with shadows and moonlight, making it difficult for nocturnal predators to detect its presence. Except for mothers with their young, tapirs are solitary animals.
Tapirs have a highly developed sense of smell.
They roam the forest floor and riverbanks at night, noses to the ground, to sniff out food and other tapirs, and to detect the scent of predators. When a tapir smells an appetizing leaf, it uses its short, fleshy proboscis as a sensitive finger to grab and pull the leaf toward its mouth and then moves on. At first glance, tapirs may look like slow and clumsy animals, and an easy catch for a predator. Tapirs have recessed eyes and short ears, legs and tail. They also have a stocky body that is rounded in back and tapered in front.