T. kabomani is allegedly also found in the Amazon rainforest, where it appears to be sympatric with the well-known South American tapir (T. terrestris).

However, T. kabomani has not been officially recognized by the Tapir Specialist Group as a distinct species; recent genetic evidence further suggests it is likely a subspecies of T. terrestris.

[8][9] T. terrestris is dark brown, paler in the face, and has a low, erect crest running from the crown down the back of the neck.

[7] T. kabomani also seems to exhibit some level of sexual dimorphism as females tend to be larger than males and possess a characteristic patch of light hair on their throats.

This tapir possesses a single, narrow, low and gently inclined sagittal crest that rises posteriorly from the toothrow.

[6] The skull possesses a meatal diverticulum fossa that is shallower and less dorsally extended than those of the other four extant species of tapir.

Its geographic range stretches from Venezuela, Colombia, and the Guianas in the north to Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay in the south, to Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador in the west.

[15] On rare occasions, waifs have crossed the narrow sea channel from Venezuela to the southern coast of the island of Trinidad (but no breeding population exists there).

Using its mobile nose, it feeds on leaves, buds, shoots, and small branches it tears from trees, fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants.

[6] Previously discovered tapirs are known to be important seed dispersers and to play key roles in the rainforest or mountain ecosystems in which they occur.

The dwindling numbers of the South American tapir are due to poaching for meat and hide, as well as habitat destruction.

Nevertheless, the species is threatened by prospects of future habitat loss related to deforestation, development and expanding human populations.

[6] While this tapir does not seem to be rare in the upper Madeira River region of the southwestern Brazilian Amazon,[6] its precise conservation status is unknown.

[6] The creation of infrastructure such as roads as well as two dams planned for the area as of December 2013 further threaten to considerably alter the home range.

[24] Humans aside, the region of the Amazon in which T. kabomani is found has also been highlighted as an area that is likely to be particularly susceptible to global warming and the ecosystem changes it brings.

[a] Nevertheless, though observed by experts, all tapirs from the expedition have been consistently treated as T. terrestris,[26][27] including specimen AMNH 36661, which is now identified as T. kabomani.

[6] Molecular dating methods based on three mitochondrial cytochrome genes gave an approximate divergence time of 0.5 Ma for T. kabomani and the T. terrestris–T.

[29] Further analyses of cytochrome b sequences did reveal a clade allegedly belonging to T. kabomani, however, it was described to be only as divergent as some haplotype found in other species.

[30] Several other objections raised against the distinction of T. kabomani from T. terrestris, including external and internal morphological characters, statistical analysis, distribution and use of folk taxonomy, were addressed in Cozzuol et al (2014).