Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-12-20
The QUEER TAPIR.
Sometimes Known as the Ameri-
can Cousin of the Elephant.
SCARES THE BRAVEST HUNTER
Although 1t Is Harmless, 1t Waits I'm
til Man With Gun Is Upon IL 70
Make Sudden Wild Dash THROUGH
Thickest Woods.


til Man With Gun Is Upon Il 70
Make Sudden Wild Dash Through
Thickest Woods.
1t was only after | had learned a
little about the anita, the grambestia
and the vaca del monte that some one
inadvertently disclosed the fact that
this imposing array Of names all ap-
piled to the animal that my school geog-
Iaphy called just plain "tapir."
He is an odd beast and deserves all
the names that have been bestowed
upon him. In my mind the word ia
pir stood for the chunky little beast |
had seen wandering about at the zoo,
like lost fat boy looking for his folks.
The freak | first saw on his native
heath was a very different proposition.
He looked like q mud colored baby
elephant minus the two tails Of his
big relative. He is queer even to his
toes, for he has only three on his hind
feet and four on the front ones. He
measured about six feet from tip to tip
and stood three and a half feet high,
and he weighed between 400 and 500
pounds. His nose is sort Of rudi-
mentary trunk, flexible as a snake. and
can be extended six inches. He can
pick up pin with it or break branches
from trees. Nothing is taken into Hrs
mouth until it is examined and APPROX
ed by this sentinel, says Dewey Austin
Cobb in the Associated Sunday Maya.
zines.
The tapir is the largest animal indig-
enous to South America and shares
with the white Tipped percary the dis
tinctton Of being the only representa-
tive Of the pachyderm family In the
new world. 1t is very timid and per
fectly harmless animal, and yet there
Is no creature on the western CONT
nent so capable Of soaring q man into
state Of hopeless idiocy. How? 1t la
very simple.
In the daytime he sleeps under some
bush just big enough to hide him, and,
though you are sure to waken him as
you go profanely crashing through the
brush a quarter Of a mile away, he
will lie and watch you approach untSI
you are about to step on him. Then,
with a "Woof, woofv and shrill
whistle, away he goes, never following
the neat little paths that he keeps
trimmed out to his watering places,
but plunging through the jungle,
knocking over trees as thick as your
wrist. And while you are picking up
your hat and gun and hunting In the
fallen leaves for your spectacles, which
fell off when you jumped, you hear
him half mile away, still in full GA
reer and, let us nope, safe and happy.
People who ought to know about it
say that a taplr captured in maturity
cannot be tanned, but a baby tapir Ia
the "cutest little cuss" you ever saw.
He Is spotted, like fawn, with white
and is as clumsy as real baby. Next
to his mother, he loves q human guar
dian. If his mother Is killed or cap
tured, he will not go away from her,
but hover about whimpering until he
Is caught and tended to-" Give him
peanut or a lump Of sugar and you
are thereafter his trusted guardian and
best beloved. He will search your
pockets with his funny little trunk.
pulling out everything they contain
and dropping whatever he cannot eat
He hates tobacco. and if he finds q
piece or an old pipe in your possession
he will look at you so rcproachfuly
that you are ashamed Of yourself for
using the vile weed. You cannot get
away from him unless you climb
tree, and even then he will stand and
look at you so pathetically and make
such plaintive baby noises that You
scramble down and apologize for your
heartlessness.
A. woman is the only creature that
can win him away from you IL you are
merely a man, and she always be-
comes his slave. He must stick his
little probOscis into everything he can
reach in the house. He lifts off kettle
covers and burns his nose, trying 10
find out what is within; then he runs
whining to his mistress TO have 1t com
forted. He trips her up when her
hands are full of dishes and fondleS
her while she is picking up the wreck
are and scolding him. But don't "ou
try to punish the little creature, no
matter what he does, while your wire
is present or the harmony Of the ram
lily will be rudely broken.
They say these pets get cross as they