Tapirus veroensis

Tapirus veroensis is an extinct Tapir species that lived in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. Tapirus veronensis is thought to have gone extinct around 11,000 years ago.^[1]

History

The first T. veroensis fossil was found at Vero Beach, Florida in 1915 and named in 1918 by the Florida State Geologist E.H. Sellards.^[2]

Physical Characteristics

Tapirus veroensis fossils found in Northern Alabama were with caribou and peccary fossils which implies that T. veroensis was capable of living in a temperate climate with subfreezing temperatures.^[3] The T. veronensis was most similar to the extant Mountain Tapir.^[4] As with all tapir species, T. veroensis had a proboscis which was used for grabbing branches to eat the foliage. They were herbivores, living on a diet of forest vegetation. They most likely weighed over 600 pounds (270 kilograms) and would have been capable of fending off large predators.^[5]

References