Tracking mountain tapirs. A team of zoologists and local guides use a radio-tracking device to locate a mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in the Ecuadorian Andes. Very little is known about this endangered species as attempts to keep it in zoos have proved unsuccessful. It is a shy, graceful, vegetarian animal with a woolly fleece and short trunk. Tapirs are related to the rhinoceros and, more distantly, to the horse. They are sometimes described as living fossils as they represent the last remaining examples of what was once a widespread and numerous family of mammals.