Fossils of ancient tapirs in North America can be dated back to 50 million-year-old Eocene rocks on Ellesmere Island, Canada, which was then a temperate climate.

[2] During the Pleistocene epoch, four species of tapir are known to have inhabited North America.

[3] First discovered and described in 1921 by American vertebrate paleontologist Childs Frick, T. merriami lived at the same time, and perhaps many of the same locations, as T. californicus,[4] but is believed to have preferred more inland habitats of southern California and Arizona.

Of the four known Pleistocene-era tapirs found on the North American continent, T. merriami was the largest.

[3] T. merriami was a stout-bodied herbivore with short legs, a large, tapering head, and a short, muscular proboscis adept at stripping leaves from shrubs.