A tapir (usually pronounced "tay-per") is an endangered mammal, but while it resembles a pig with a snout, it is actually related to horses and rhinoceroses.

Weighing around 300 kg and at about one metre tall, the tapir is a herbivore and is also active at night. 

The animal usually lives for up to 30 years in the wild, and can be found in South America, Central America and Southeast Asia.

There are four species including Brazilian and Malayan; the tapirs found in Dublin Zoo are of the Brazilian variety. 

Tapirs are generally shy but defend themselves when scared using very powerful jaws. 

Attacks on humans are very rare; while the females have been known to attack when they feel their young are under threat, tapirs generally avoid confrontation, running into rivers to avoid predators. 

There had only been two other reported incidents involving humans before yesterday; in 1998, an Oklahoma City zookeeper was mauled and his arm was severed after he opened the door to a female's enclosure to push food inside. The tapir's two-month-old baby also occupied the cage at the time. In 2006, a Costa Rican politician became lost in the one of the country's national parks and received a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir.

Rio, the tapir responsible for yesterday's attack, was filmed with her newborn calf last month: