Tapirus polkensis
Tapirus polkensis, the pygmy tapir, is a small prehistoric tapir that lived in North America during the late Miocene and early Pliocene.[1] T. polkensis may have lived in swamps, where it would have been preyed on by ancestors of modern American crocodiles. T. polkensis had an estimated mass of around 125 kg (276 lb),[1] making it smaller than any extant tapir.
| Tapirus polkensis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil replicas on display at the Gray Fossil Site & Museum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Tapiridae |
| Genus: | Tapirus |
| Species: | †T. polkensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Tapirus polkensis Olsen, 1860 | |
The Gray Fossil Site in northeast Tennessee is home to the world's largest known fossil assemblage of T. polkensis.
References
- Richard C. Hulbert Jr.; Steven C. Wallace; Walter E. Klippel & Paul W. Parmalee (2009). "Cranial morphology and systematics of an extraordinary sample of the Late Neogene dwarf tapir, Tapirus polkensis (Olsen)". Journal of Paleontology. 83 (2): 238–262. doi:10.1666/08-062.1.
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