Carrie Johnstone, age 11, of Shreveport, La., for her question:

HOW LARGE IS A TAPIR?

A tapir is a large hoofed mammal that falls into the odd toed group along with the rhinoceros and the horse. The tapir has four toes on the front feet and three toes on the hind feet. One type, found in Central and South America, is about six feet long and three feet high at the shoulder. An Asian (Malay) type is a little bit larger.

Tapirs have fat bodies, short legs, tiny tails and proboscises or noses that look like trunks of small elephants. Tapirs weigh from 400 to 700 pounds. For protection, the hide on their necks and heads can be as much as one inch thick.

Tapirs feed at night on vegetation such as grass, leaves, fallen fruit and moss. They always seem to be on the move, taking bites with each step forward. At dawn they drink lots of water and then move to dense jungles, where they spend the day sleeping.

Their only enemies in the Americas are the jaguars and the pumas. In Asia they have to look out for tigers.