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Tapir diet

Tapirs are the largest forest animals in Central America. Although not strictly nocturnal, they prefer foraging in cool of the night and they are well-equipped to do so. To help them sense their world at night they have large ears and an acute sense of smell, which allows them to identify over 100 different types of plant. Rainforest plants try to protect themselves from herbivores by producing different types of toxins but the tapir works around this problem by sniffing out and eating a varied diet so it does not accumulate high levels of a single type of toxin.

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