Hello Junior the Purple Tapir friends!
I am back to let you know that all of us have a “scientific name”. Confused? My proper name is Junior, of course! and my common name is “mountain tapir”. But I also have a scientific name, just for me, so that you can properly distinguish me from my other tapir cousins. My scientific name is Tapirus pinchaque. It is based on my region’s native language. It roughly means “large, round, ghost like animal”. As you can see, my scientific name tells you something about me: I am like a ghost in the forest, few people see me wandering around. Ha! I will tell you why on my next post.
Who gave me that name? A long time ago, around 1827, a French naturalist called François Désiré Roulin came to South America, where I live, and when he was walking through the forest bumped into a member of my family!
“What a beautiful and interesting creature!” he thought.
“What fantastic markings!” he said, looking at my little snout.
So, he described me, and also drew me for the whole world to learn about ME!
Look here for more information on scientific names.