Zoo visitors often ask, "What is it? A pig? An anteater?" No, it's a tapir, an animal that has remained unchanged for millions of years. The four tapir species are most closely related to horses and rhinos, since they have an odd number of toes (four toes on each front foot, three on each back foot). Their body is designed to walk through thick vegetation. The tapir's nose and upper lip combine into a flexible snout like an elephant's trunk, which can be used as a snorkel when the animal is in the water; as a way to detect odors wafting through the forest; and as a tool to grab branches and strip off leaves or pluck fruit. Vital components of their ecosystem, tapirs shape and maintain the biological diversity of tropical forests.