The Fossil Record of Tapirs

Tapirs have a fossil record stretching back to the early Eocene epoch (c. 50 million years). Throughout their evolutionary history, tapirs (and their closest kin) occupied restricted niches in moist and dense habitats, exhibiting many basal perissodactyl features, and sometimes earning them the label of “living fossils”. Recent research employing state-of-the-art methodologies alongside increased curatorial and excavation efforts has shed greater light on the functional morphology, ecology and relationships of extinct tapirs. These works demonstrate that, despite a fossil record that is far less rich than that of their horse and rhinoceros relatives, tapirs have been a successful, diverse and adaptable clade of large ungulates. New evidence on their functional, phylogenetic, geographical, and physiological attributes has come to light in recent years, demonstrating just how much we do not yet know about the evolution of tapirs. A greater understanding of the fossil record of this clade of megaherbivores may provide invaluable information on the adaptability and survival prospects for modern tapir species in an increasingly uncertain climatic period of Earth’s history. We review the fossil record of tapirs, and provide an overview of historical understanding and recent advances, highlighting questions which are yet to be answered as regards the tapir fossil record.