Last night, I read a picture book called “Yara’s Amazing Nose”. How many books have you read about tapirs? (pronounced like tah-PEER, not like a taper candle!) I became more curious about this pig-elephant-hippo-like creature, so I searched on YouTube to learn more.

Most YouTube results showed tapirs in zoos, or “8 awesome facts about the tapir!” which didn’t satisfy my snout-shaped curiosity. I wanted to know about how they live in their habitat, if they roam peacefully or are boisterous, how they differ from javalis (ha-va-LEES, jungle pigs), and how they use their nose.

Then it occurred to me — to the English-speaking world, tapirs are mostly unheard of, and documentaries are sparse. What if I searched for results in Spanish? “Que es tapir” I typed in. Lo and behold! Rich documentaries from the Colombian and Mexican forests with footage of tapirs roaming and sniffing around their native habitat. The descriptions were much richer. I learned that tapirs are solitary (unlike javalis), they love eating a variety of fruits, leaves, and seeds, and are important in dissemination of seeds around the forest. Their diet is healthier than mine! They like to roam large areas of forest and water, and have 14 toes in total. They are known as ‘danta’ in Mexico and ‘tsíimin’ in Maya. They’re only natural predators are the jaguar and puma, but poaching and deforestation for farming have made their population endangered. There’s only about 5,500 of these tranquil creatures left in the wild.

I enjoyed learning about the tapir. This also reminded me to consider searching for information in another language I know, to make the most of the both worlds!