GARDENERS OF THE FOREST

How a living fossil is making modern Costa Rica greener

- LUCY COOKE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lucy Cooke is a broadcaster and zoologist, and writes the regular column Female of the Species for BBC Wildlife (flick back to page 27). She is the author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal (Doubleday, £20).

CONSERVATION heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but none as mysterious as the tapir. Latin America's largest native land mammal is a peculiar-looking beast that swims like a hippopotamus and climbs like a goat. It also eats like an elephant, using an elongated prehensile snout to pluck the tastiest fruit and leaves and deliver them into a decidedly equine mouth.

The tapir appears to have been cobbled together from an eclectic assortment of random beasts. The overall effect is quite prehistoric, which is fitting: the tapir hasn't really changed in more than 35 million years, earning it the title of living fossil. Its closest living relative is the rhinoceros. The tapir shares a profoundly shy nature with its distant cousin, which has ensured this jungle giant's secrets have been well-kept - until now. Research is revealing surprising insights into the tapir's private life, including its unlikely role as a four-footed eco-warrior with a smelly secret weapon.

I've always loved odd animals and frankly they don't get much odder than the tapir. So when I got the chance to travel to Costa Rica in late 2021 and hang out with local conservation biologist Esteban Brenes-Mora, AKA "the tapir guy", I jumped at the chance.