Tapirs: Tapiridae - Habitat

With the exception of the mountain tapir, these mammals live in lowland rainforests and other moist forest regions. Mountain tapirs prefer cloud forests, tropical forests that are covered with constant clouds year-round, and paramo, treeless plateaus of tropical South America and the Andes Mountains. Lowland tapirs are found in grasslands and woodlands at lower elevations in South America. All tapirs swim and spend a good deal of time in rivers and lakes. Females often need secluded forests in which to give birth and raise their young.