What Is a Group of Tapirs Called?
A pig-like, distant relative of the horse and rhino with an oddly poetic group name.
A group of tapirs is called a candle, with herd also used. Tapirs are naturally solitary, so a genuine gathering is uncommon outside of a mother and her calf or a brief mating encounter.
What Is a Group of Tapirs Called?
Candle is the distinctive term listed for a group of tapirs, though because tapirs are largely solitary animals, a genuine gathering of more than two is a fairly rare sight in the wild. Herd is the more general, though less precisely accurate, alternate.
Where Did the Name Come From?
The exact reasoning behind “candle” for tapirs isn’t well documented, but it fits a broader pattern of quirky, memorable English collective nouns assigned to lesser-known animals without a strong existing hunting tradition behind them. Tapirs, native to Central and South America and Southeast Asia, weren’t part of the medieval English Book of Saint Albans vocabulary at all, so their collective nouns are more recent additions.
Tapir Facts
- Flexible snout: a tapir’s short, flexible, trunk-like snout is used to grab leaves and fruit, and functions somewhat like a small elephant trunk.
- Ancient lineage: tapirs are remarkably unchanged from their prehistoric ancestors, having existed in a similar form for tens of millions of years.
- Distant horse and rhino relative: despite their pig-like appearance, tapirs are odd-toed ungulates, making them more closely related to horses and rhinoceroses than to pigs.
- Striped calves: baby tapirs are born with white stripes and spots for camouflage, which fade as they mature into adult coloring.
Example Sentences
- A rare candle of tapirs gathered briefly near the watering hole.
- A mother and calf, the closest thing to a candle of tapirs, waded through the shallow river.
🧠 Test Your Tapir Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.
1. What is a group of tapirs called?
2. What are tapirs most closely related to?
3. What do baby tapirs look like?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a group of tapirs called?
A candle, with herd also used, though tapirs are largely solitary and rarely form true groups.
What are tapirs related to?
Despite their pig-like look, tapirs are odd-toed ungulates, making them more closely related to horses and rhinoceroses than to pigs.
What is a tapir’s snout used for?
A tapir’s short, flexible, trunk-like snout is used to grab leaves and fruit, functioning somewhat like a small elephant trunk.
Why do baby tapirs have stripes?
Baby tapirs are born with white stripes and spots for camouflage, which fade as they mature into adult coloring.
A Rare Sight, Solitary by Nature
A candle of tapirs is an uncommon sight simply because tapirs prefer their own company, making any gathering worth noting.