Pleistocene rewilding The mountain tapir is the only extant non-tropical species of tapir. Predators of mountain tapirs include cougars, bears, and, less commonly, jaguars. Good introduction areas might include forested ecosystems of the west and east coasts, and the more scrub-like or wetland ecosystem of the south. During the Pleistocene, large populations of Proboscideans lived in North America, such as the Columbian mammoth and the American mastodon. The mastodons all became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era, as did the mammoths of North America. However, an extant relative of the mammoth is the Asian elephant. It now resides only in
Perry Mastodon when the school was seeking to change its mascot. Perry Mastodon also inspired a song called "Perry, the Mastodon" by college campus band, The Two Twangs. The mastodon has been the victim of many pranks over the years. The most legendary occurred on Parents' Day 1975, when a bogus tape recording was inserted in place of the true story of the Mastodon. This prank was written up in the 1976 yearbook, the school newspaper, the Wheaton Daily Journal, and the official history of the college by Paul Bechtel. Perry Mastodon Perry Mastodon (sometimes called "Perry, the Mastodon") is the name