Tapir: A Strange Animal快來認識“五不像”

Which one is the national treasure in our country？

以下哪種動物是我國的國寶呢？把它圈出來吧！

Answer： 圖1是我國的國寶，圖2是馬來西亞的國寶馬來貘哦！

The Malayan tapir（馬來貘）is the biggest（最大的） of all the tapirs. Look！ It is black and white. 當它還是個寶寶的時候，可是穿著“花衣服”的哦！當貘寶寶慢慢長大，身上的“衣服”才會逐漸變成黑白色的。

Reasons for its nickname（綽號）：

它的鼻子像大象，耳朵像馬，腿像犀牛，足像虎，身軀像熊。

The tapir can smell（聞） food easily with the long nose. 馬來貘用長長的鼻子卷起食物并進食。The tapirs mainly feed on（以……為食） bamboo. They also eat branches and leaves.

They are timid（膽小的） and kind. They like to stay in the water or the mud.

When they see the enemies（敵人），they can hold the breath（憋氣） and hide in the water for a long time.

They always poop（排便） in the water. That’s amazing and strange. Why？

這是為了防止老虎等天敵順著糞便的味道或痕跡追來并發動攻擊。

In ancient times， there were some interesting legends（傳說） about the tapirs. People in China and Japan thought the tapirs could eat dreams and nightmares（噩夢）.

So the great poet Bai Juyi once asked a painter to draw a tapir on his screen（屏風）and wrote an article for it.

其名曰貘，非鐵不食。

昔在上古，人心忠貞。

——［唐］白居易 "《貘屏贊》