They're basically just big dogs with an odd number of toes and a weird head. I'd very much like to hang out with some! Keepers who have a free contact policy with their Tapirs are some very lucky people indeed!
I've heard of a scientist who took food out of the mouth of wild tapirs to identify what they were eating. In captivity tapirs are often very tame and placid, until they take a bite out of their keepers. It's quite rare though, but they are extremely fast, extremely strong and extremely unlogical.
I'd be careful around tapirs myself. There was, for example, a keeper at Oklahoma Zoo in 1998 who had an arm removed from the rest of the body by a tapir.
