They run off ponderously if startled but can also sneak away without noise. People have encountered tapirs feeding during night and day. In the deciduous forests of Santa Rosa National Park they seem to concentrate near water holes during the dry season. Whether this is for drinking water or defecation is unclear, since they seem to want badly to defecate in water. If water is not available they will repeatedly defecate on the same site on dry land, as has been observed in National Parks.
Tapir feces look like horse dung but contain much larger chips of woody twigs.
Juveniles show to accompany mothers for as much as a year after birth, until they reach what appears to be almost two-thirds of mother s weight. Costa Rican howler weighs 6 to 7 kg. Adult female howlers weigh 4 to 5 kg. Adults are black with brown or blond saddles long guard hairs on their flanks. These protector hairs give them their common name, mantled howling monkeys.