Tapir Talk Archives

22 July 1997

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    ___  __                   Digest   22 July 1997 - Vol. 1, No. 43
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The Tapir Preservation Fund

The Tapir Gallery: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/
Tapir Talk Archives and Info: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/tt.htm
E-mail: tapir@tapirback.com
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TAPIR TALK   -  22 July 1997   -   Vol. 1, No. 43

Contents of this issue
    1. Jaguar relocation / rehab
    2. More questions regarding same
    3. Response re: jaguar rehab
    4. Intro: Gina - and mountain tapirs at Cheyenne Mtn. Zoo
    5. Mats and bleeding feet
    6. Better research needed on tapirs as prey for big cats
    7. Response to Newquay zoo paddock description:
        Water in the face and coloration of T. terrestris
    8. Genetics work needed




Return-Path: 
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 10:58:45 -0500
From: Daniel Hilliard 
To: Tapir 
Subject: Re: Tapir Talk Digest - 19 July 1997 - Vol. 1, No. 41
References: <19970720043207062.AAA508@dialin60.gj.net>


Dear Mr. Ketover:

It is my understanding that two recently-confiscated juvenile jaguars (sexes unknown) 
are being held at the Simon Bolivar Zoo in San Jose.  Rather than relocating 
Peruvian Jaguars, perhaps, utilizing the genetic resources of native Costa Rican 
jaguars would be more suitable for your breeding and (hopefully) release program.  

An organization you may wish to contact is PROFELIS.  They have an outstanding track 
record at rehabilitating and releasing felids such as margay, ocelot, etc... back into 
the wild.  They may be able to provide you with information related to your jaguar 
rehab project.

Finally, if your group is identified by the Costa Rican government as a 
legally-registered rehabilitation/release center you should be eligible to receive 
individual jaguars which have been confiscated or captured for eventual relocation.  For 
further details you may wish to contact the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energia Controlaria 
Ambiental (MINAE) de Costa Rica.

Best Regards,


Daniel Hilliard
Executive Director--Zoo Conservation Outreach Group (ZCOG)

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Return-Path: 
X-Sender: gershenz@apollo.sfsu.edu
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 15:08:08 -0700
To: Tapir 
From: Norman Gershenz 
Subject: Re: Tapir Talk Digest  - Jaguar response

Roberto Aguilar response to the rehabilitation and "possible"
reintroduction of Peruvian species of Felis onca sp? into Costa Rica poses
some very good and necessary questions to be addressed before any funds are
raised, allocated or sent to Eco-Trust.  First off, to Roberto,  I would be
interested in the documentation or citation you mentioned regarding the
jaguar reintroduction in Belize. Thank you in advance for your response.

To Mr. Philip Ketover, good intentions require good sound science. Indeed,
collaborative partnerships not only will garner you important scientific
information but, perhaps, will bring you new found membership and support
after serious biological and conservation questions are addressed.  I look
forward to hearing from both of you.

Sincerely,

Norman Gersehenz
Director, Center for Ecosystem Survival
Dept. of Biology, SFSU
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
415/338-3393
415/338-2295

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Return-Path: 
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 18:26:08 -0800
To: tapir@tapirback.com
From: glanducci@pcisys.net (Gina Landucci)

Hello tapir folks-

I've been reading all of your mail (and there's lots of it!!) but haven't
had time to respond.  My name is Gina and I'm a keeper at Cheyenne Mt. Zoo
and take care of 2.1 mountain tapirs.  The most exciting happening is that
we now have one male, Sandia, with our female, Carlotta, as before he was
housed with the other male, Carlos.  No successful breeding has been
observed to date but our fingers are crossed.

And in response to two comments I read about black mats and tapir foot
problems, yes, black mats are almost a necessity unless the floor is made
of or covered with a soft substrate, and yes, tapirs are prone to foot
problems.  Carlotta has a horrible time on cement, her feet bleed
frequently if she isn't on the mats.

Well back to work!

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Return-Path: 
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 21:10:06 -0400
From: Leo Salas 
Subject: Scant scats
X-Sender: salas@mailsrv-unix.oit.umass.edu (Unverified)
To: Tapir 

Hi there,

This is regarding the paper that Dan brought up to the list. Before saying
anything, I just don't want other tapir-talkers to think that Dan and I are
having an argument. I respect him and his work, and moreover, I am also
convinced that big cats kill tapirs. That paper is as much evidence as it
is a cry for better and more accurate data, which is my whole point.

>Andy, Andres, Nora and Flavio indicate that lowland tapirs were the sixth
>most important prey item (measured as attributing to at least 5% of biomass
>and 2% of prey items taken) for jaguars (23 taxa taken total, verified from
>106 scats).

I have read the works of Andrew Taber with peccaries and respect him as
much as I respect my advisor. I haven't read the paper (soon will).
However, to make my point, I will risk to play the devil's advocate on what
Dan wrote above:
If tapirs represent 2% of the prey items taken, and on average there are,
say, 1.5 different items per scat, then we are talking about 3 remains of
tapirs found in 106 scats. So far, so good. Now, are these from the same
tapir, or 3 different animals? Depending on where and when the scats were
collected, we could be talking about the same tapir. And further, did the
jaguar/puma kill the tapir? These animals scavenge every now and then.
Lastly, what was the age of the tapir? Information on all these subjects is
fundamental to determine how difficult is life for tapirs of all ages
(especially for the young and strong ones). 

How could these scat studies be improved to account for some of the above
problems? Well, Michael Kohn and Bob Wayne at UCLA just published a
manuscript on all the different molecular genetics techniques that can and
have been used for analyses of scats, and the great deal of information
that can be collected. Check it out: TREE (that's Trends in Ecology and
Evolution), 12(6): 223-227 (June issue, 1997). Among other things, you can
detect the predator and prey individually (with PCR amplification of
remains if needed, and DNA finger printing), their sexes, diseases on
predators, and even home ranges! Of course, these techniques are very
expensive, but that does not mean that it cannot or should not be done.

But there is still one piece of information missing: the age of the tapir.
It is because of this that works like Charlie Forester's in Corcovado are
most needed to assess mortality risks. If Charlie (or someone else) can
capture a good number of tapirs, maybe extract teeth to age them with
cementum annuli (this may not work, though) or using other less accurate
methods (dental wear calibrated against captive animals of known age, for
instance), and track them for a long period of time, then he might have a
fair chance to record a few kills. There are techniques that help calculate
mortality rates that can be age-specific (or stage-specific; a stage is any
age category not measured in years). In this way, the risk of predation by
jaguars and pumas can be measured to my (AR) satisfaction. As soon as I see
this kind of study in the literature, I will stop being so skeptical. This
is also my strongest reason for supporting (morally, that is) long-term
large-scale tapir research.

Cheers
Leo
salas@forwild.umass.edu

Cheers
Leo Salas

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Return-Path: 
X-Sender: tapir@tapirback.com (Unverified)
To: tapir@tapirback.com
From: Tapir 
Subject: Tapir Talk: Running water / coloration
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:04:15 -0600

For John Blount and others,

Welcome to Tapir Talk!

I really enjoyed reading about the enclosure you have at Newquay for your
Brazilian tapir.

>that the in-flow pipe that fills the lake is a focus for attention.  He seems
>to enjoy opening his mouth over the pipe and blasting his mouth / face, and
>when he leaves the water he charges across the paddock at full speed.  At the

Several things. One is that the Brazilian tapir I raised long ago did not
have a pool, so we sprayed him often with the hose and finally got him a
cast iron bathtub, which he used. During spraying with the hose, he would
walk up to the source of the water and hold his mouth open, sometimes
"chewing" the water, and sometimes just waving his mouth around in it. After
these bath sessions, he would dash around the enclosure, leaping over the
bathtub in a very agile manner, etc. It's interesting that your tapir races
around after having his face in the water. I'll be very interested to hear
the result of running water experiments!

>Incidentally, our male is still quite young, and we hope to introduce a
>female next year.

One thing I would very much like to see is genetic studies with tapirs. I
have noticed that T. terrestris from the northern part of the range seems to
more often have light colored face and chest with a cheek spot. I have not
seen enough animals, photos or skins or read enough detailed descriptions
where the place of origin for the animals was known, to identify what parts
of the range this covers. The one I raised (location of origin unknown) was
all dark, with no light markings at all, except the typical ones on ears and
toes. I've noticed that many of the Brazilian tapirs raised in the UK seem
to have the lighter markings, as do a number of them in the U.S. and Europe.
Which type of coloring does your tapir have, and do you know its lineage and
place of origin of the lines? These are reasons I think that studbooks along
with genetic testing will be very helpful in selecting animals to breed. Unfortunately the studbook on T. terrestris in the U.S. has never been published.

>couple of minutes at a time.  His usual mode of entry involves approaching
>the bank and cautiously leaning forward until he is committed to entering the
>water, at which point he leaps in with a huge splash!

This sounds like fun for everyone! I'd love to see it!

Sheryl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sheryl Todd  ~  The Tapir Gallery  ~  Tapir Preservation Fund    
http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/        tapir@tapirback.com 
Tapir Talk info & archives: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/tt.htm
Co-Editor, IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group Newsletter
P.O. Box 1432, Palisade, CO 81526 USA    Fax (970) 464-0377
"Promoting the Welfare of Tapirs Everywhere"
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