Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina was a fantastic place to visit. They had something for everyone, from a zoo, amazing flowers, a butterfly garden, and some amazing statues! Today, I'm going to share some pictures of the cool animal statues with you, taken by my mother and I! Enjoy!
This post has been made into a Video Blog Post. To view it on YouTube, click HERE, or below.
Today's featured animal is the tapir, an odd, pig-like creature from South and Central America, as well as parts of south-east Asia. There are four different types of tapir: Brazilian, Baird's, mountain, and Malayan. Collectively, their closest living relatives are the rhinos and horses. Unfortunately, all four of the tapirs are classified by the IUCN as "Vulnerable," or "Endangered."
Despite their bulky appearance (between 300 and 700 pounds, and around seven feet long), tapirs can run surprisingly fast. This, along with the thick skin that helps to protect the back of their necks, helps them to avoid their main predators, like jaguars, tigers, caimans, and anacondas. Although the distinctive coat patterns of adult tapir help to camouflauge them a bit, the young are especially camouflaged, with spots and stripes, much like two of their main predators, the jaguar and tiger, respectively.
A statue depicting the struggle between a pair of jaguars and their tapir prey. The statue was one of many at the fantastic Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
According to Japanese folklore, the tapir will eat your dreams. It also features in both Chinese and Korean mythology, as well.
Each species of tapir has its own range, generally with little or no overlap. The Brazilian tapir inhabits most of northern South America, generally not venturing much further south than the Tropic of Capricorn. Meanwhile, the Baird's tapir lives in southern Mexico, Central America, as well as the South American country of Colombia. It is also possible that it lives in Ecuador. Next, the mountain tapir lives in just a small strip of land in the South American countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in the Cordilerras Mountains. Finally, the Malayan tapir is found in the lowland rainforests in the countries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Don't forget to check in later in the day for this weeks "A Look Ahead!"
A bobcat at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, California. Note the short, stubby tail.
The bobcat is quite adaptable; it inhabits almost every single environment that the Continental United States has to offer, as well as most of Mexico. There are thirteen recognized sub-species of bobcat. Furthermore, despite its size, can be strong enough to take down small deer. Here is a link to a video about a bobcat that I found to be quite interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5BfNtim148
When we went camping last week, twice did we see paw prints that looked too small to be mountain lion prints, and were most likely bobcat prints. I was quite excited; unfortunately (but not surprisingly) we didn't see any of the cats themselves. Here is one picture from each of the times we saw the tracks.
