The 2013 COLLECTA Baird's tapir walkaround

So, for the first time in the animal toy history, a company is making a Baird's tapir figurine. Most of the models made in the past, for nearly a century now, were Indian tapirs or rarely a few Brazilian tapirs. So we can thanks COLLECTA to make a female Baird's tapir for 2013.    

Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) is a species of tapir native to Central America and northern South America.

It has a distinctive cream-colored marking on its face and throat and a dark spot on each cheek, behind and below the eye. The rest of its hair is dark brown or grayish-brown. This tapir is the largest of the three American species and the largest native land mammal in both Central and South America. Baird's tapirs average up to 2 m  in length and 1.2 m in height. Body mass in adults can range from 150 to 400 kilograms. Like the other species of tapirs, they have small, stubby tails and long, flexible proboscises. They have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot.

These animals are 'living fossils'; the group has changed little in body shape over the past 35 million years, although recent evidence suggests the proboscis may be a more recent addition.

Baird's tapirs inhabits dense tropical jungles, preferring areas with a permanent water supply.
They tend to forage in forest clearings where there are many colonizing plants. Browsing often occurs at night and the diet consists of a variety of foliage together with seeds and fruit.

And now a few pics  

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Hey you !

And  now the first Baird's tapir figurine ever made... By COLLECTA  

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