Happy World Tapir Day!

Once again, somehow, it’s April 27th. And you know what that means? You know what that means. Yes, it’s World Tapir Day, the day where we worship the World-Tapir, thanking her for the gift of life itself, for her snortling, her snuffles, her odd-toed…wait, what? Really? Oh. OK, it appears I’ve been misinformed, but it’s still excellent news. You see, apparently World Tapir Day is a world-wide day of celebration of the Tapir, Splash Damage’s mascot, totem and talisman.

Tapirs are simply splendid, but are sadly endangered. Each of the four species (I don’t need to tell you their names, you know them already, don’t you?) is in decline. The Mountain Tapir and Baird’s Tapir face extinction within the next twenty years. The Malayan Tapir and Brazilian Tapir populations are falling as their habitats are destroyed. There may even be a fifth sub-species of Brazilian Tapir, we just don’t know, the research hasn’t been done. And if the fall in numbers isn’t prevented, it may never be. Tapirs are wonderful creatures: charming, unassuming and scholarly law-abiding gravity-defying snortlesome. Perhaps more importantly, they’re a key indicator for habitat viability. As go the tapirs, so goes the natural environment. If we can preserve the Tapirs, we’ll be saving countless other species as well.

So please, check out the events of World Tapir Day, and spare a thought (and perhaps some spare change) for our perissodactyl chums.