If you're a regular reader of the site, you'll undoubtedly have noticed that we're big fans of the tapir around here. None of us can say precisely whether it is more their snortling grace, their mild and modest evolutionary longevity or the splendid spots and stripes of their young that so fascinates us, but we're happy and proud to count ourselves among the waving, hooting ranks of TapirFans the world over.

Unfortunately, all three of the tapir species are endangered and faced with extinction. To help preserve them, one of the things we did earlier in the year (on World Tapir Day, no less) was to donate a healthy amount of cash to the Baird's Tapir Project, the longest on-going tapir conservation effort in the world.

When it came to doing this year's Christmas cards, we thought we'd do one better and use them to spread the word about tapirs and raise some more money for our endangered perissodactyl friends.

Click to enlarge.

Appropriately, the cards feature a tapir-themed take on Christmas courtesy of our resident Tapir artist Laurel 'Tully' Austin, while odd-toed wordsmith Ed 'BongoBoy' Stern came up with the following for the inside:

We're Splash Damage, developers
Of Enemy Territ'ry
Multiplayer First Person Shooters
Played upon your PC.
We're working now on something new
Cross-platform, without peer
But right now all we want to do
Is spread some Christmas cheer.

Splash Damage loves the Tapirs
Unknown in Bethlehem,
But post this on your website
And we'll give some dosh to them.
They dwell in Costa Rica
And to prove we're not all talk
We'll sponsor a research project
At SaveTapirs.org

The best part is that for each website giving the card (and the associated tapir cause) a mention, we'll donate £50 to the Baird's Tapir Project, which will be used to research tapirs in their natural habitat and to help preserve them and their surroundings.

We've already had several great mentions of the card by Xbox 360: The Official Magazine, Shacknews, Kotaku, and the Tapir Blog, which, if our math isn't completely terrible, brings us to £200 so far.

To make it easier for you keep track of the running total and the various websites plugging the card, we've put up a tracker box here on the Splash Damage site, which will hopefully also encourage others to spread the word.

Merry Christmas, tapirs!