Megatapirus Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – Middle Holocene | |
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Megatapirus augustus restored in a sketch sheet compared with a human | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Perissodactyla |
Superfamily: | Tapiroidea |
Family: | Tapiridae |
Genus: | †Megatapirus Matthew & Granger, 1923 |
Species: | †M. augustus |
Binomial name | |
†Megatapirus augustus Matthew & Granger, 1923 |
Megatapirus was a genus of tapir that lived in southern China and Vietnam. It appeared soon after the Early Pleistocene and survived until about the Holocene. It was larger than modern tapirs, being 2.1 metres (6.9 feet) long and 0.9 metres (3.0 feet) tall at the shoulders, and may have weighed up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lbs).