Tapirs are one of the oldest types of mammal still alive. Their family has been walking the Earth for about 20 million years. They look so unusual that scientists call them 'living fossils'. Their closest cousins, surprisingly, are horses and rhinos.
That funny little trunk is called a 'proboscis'. It is flexible like an elephant's trunk but much smaller. Tapirs use it to grab leaves and pull them off branches, to sniff out food, and even as a snorkel when they swim underwater. They are excellent swimmers and love to bathe in cool rainforest streams.
The black-and-white pattern looks bold to us, but in the rainforest it is amazing camouflage. At night, the dappled moonlight through the leaves breaks up their shape and they almost disappear. Predators - like the Malayan tiger - struggle to spot them in the gloom.
Baby tapirs are absolutely adorable. They are born brown with white spots and stripes all over - like a watermelon with legs. The pattern keeps them hidden in the dappled light of the forest floor. By the time they are about six months old, the spots fade and they grow into their grown-up black-and-white blanket pattern.