Baird’s Tapir, Costa Rica

Our guides were astonished to see this tapir standing on a sandy river bank, near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.  One said that in five years of guiding, he’d never spotted a tapir, and that we were very lucky to have seen it.

This is a Baird’s tapir, which grows to almost 2 meters in length — the size of a tall man — making it one of the larger wild mammals in the country.  They are solidly built and have a trunk-like nose and short tail.  Baird’s tapirs are considered endangered.

This one watched us for a few seconds, before turning tail and running back into the jungle.  A bit of an odd-looking creature — part pig, part camel, part elephant.  Probably the only wild tapir I’ll ever see, but I’m grateful to have spotted this one.