Tapir Talk Archives

13 June 1997

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    ___  __                   Digest   13 June 1997 - Vol. 1, No. 28
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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
_______________________________________________________________

TAPIR TALK   -  13 June 1997   -   Vol. 1, No. 28

Contents of this issue
    1. With Patricia Medici in Brazil: traps, anesthetics, collars and more
    2. Tapir Trap in Museum of Natural History, New York



Return-Path: 
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 02:27:47 -0300 (EST)
From: "Liviam E. Cordeiro" 
To: tapir@TAPIRBACK.COM
Subject: Tapir Talk - Patricia

Hy Everybody!!!!!!
Here is Patricia from Brazil again...
Well...I'm still working hard...still trying to capture the Tapirs!!!
The rain is gone, but it's really cold now. But..we are atill spending
our nights up in the trees waiting for the Tapirs.
During the last weekend, we spent the days "making holes" (pitfall traps).
We made 4  holes in different bait stations. But, we still didn't
have any result. I think that the animals are walkink less than the
normal,
(because of the cold weather) so they still didn't pass in the holes.
Another point is that the nights are very clear, the full Moon is really
bright, so the animals usually avoid to walk a lot, because of the 
predators (Jaguars and Pumas).
I didn't answer two messages. I'll try to do that now:

1. Maria Elvira Loyola Teixeira da Costa
   Mdica Veterinria 
   Fundao Zoobotnica de Belo Horizonte  Fone: 277-7985
   Belo Horizonte - MG - Brasil         
   Fax: 277-7974
   melcosta@bhnet.com.br

Hello Maria Elvira, how are you? Thank you for your interest about 
my Project! 
Well, you said that the collar can make the Tapirs scratch their
necks in everything and can break it. You are right!!! But, the
collars made by Telonics-USA are really strong. It's made by four
tapes (all compacted) of "prolipropileno" (I'm not sure if it's all
right in English!), a very soft (not hard), but also very strong and 
resistent material. Charles Foester, a Tapir Researcher in Costa 
Rica, used those collars and he didn't have any problems. 
I hope that I won't have problems also.
You said that the Tapirs use to run to the water when shooted and it's
almost impossible to remove them when they become anaesthetized. Well,
at the beginning I was thinking like that. I was really sure about
that!!! But, then, I asked that to Charles Foester, who also shot the
Tapirs from distance and he told me that when the animals are shot 
they don't use to run, because the dart doesn't have that impact. 
He told me that many times he shot an animal and it just went down with 
bananas in its mouth (he used bananas like bait).
I didn't believe that and then I went to Assis Experimental Station 
(they have 5 Tapirs in captivity) and I tested some shoots. 
The animals really don't move!!! It's unbeliveable!!! I put the most 
strong pressure in the riffle...but...anyway, they didn't move. 
They just kept eating without mind about me. Maybe in the Zoos 
(I'm talking about your experience), they have a different behaviour 
because they are stressed. I don't know.
But..anyway...if the animal run when startled, it will run just a short
distance (30m to 40m) and stop, listen and smell for danger. If it is
not pursued, it will then walk slowly away. So, if a darted animal does
flee at the impact of the dart, we must let it go, and don't chase after
it.
And...also...my plataforms are all at least 100m far from the water.
Thank you again for your attention. 
You are invited to visit my study site. It's not so far from Belo
Horizonte!
If you need some help, or information...I'm always here!!!
Esteja tambem a vontade...
Patricia Medici


2. "Roberto Aguilar" 

Hi Roberto!
I'm happy that you know Doug! He is great! Doug brought some Tolazoline
for
me, but we decided to use Yoimbine. We are not planning to give O2 to the
Tapirs, because we don't think that it will be necessary. All the
manipulation
will be very fast. I'm not using any kind of oxymeter to check saturation.
Do you think that it's necessary? Tell me more about that, please.
Well, I hope you don't mind if I ask you some questions!!!
What do you think about Medetomidine? What are the dosages for that drug?
I have some Medetomidine here (Doug also brought it!) with me and I really 
would like to test that in a Zoo. Do you have some recomendations?
Thank you for all your atention,
Best wishes from Brazil.
Patricia Medici.

PS: I'm asking the same questions about Medetomidine to Maria Elvira who
is also a Veterinarian.

Patricia Medici
Tapir Project
Morro do Diabo State Park - Sao Paulo - Brazil
Adress: Passeio Tipuana, 03, Vila Minas Gerais
        Teodoro Sampaio  -  Sao Paulo State
        BRAZIL   -   CEP: 19280-000
Phone:  (018) 282-1944
E-Mail: lecordei@carpa.ciagri.usp.br

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Return-Path: 
X-Sender: tapir@tapirback.com
To: tapir@tapirback.com
From: Tapir 
Subject: Tapir Talk: traps
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 13:30:11 -0600

Hi all,

On the subject of tapir traps, I just happened to be going over some old
journals (about 1972) of a trip to New York City. We visited the Museum of
Natural History there, and they had a tapir trap on display! I drew it
(badly), and photographed it, I think (don't know what happened to the
photos). If I get the chance I may write the museum about it. I doubt it
will be helpful, but might be interesting. 

It was baited with bananas (in my drawing, at least), so it may not have
been from Brazil. There were posts in the ground in a half-circle or so, and
it had a trip wire near the bait. When the wire was tripped, it caused a
huge log to fall. Whether it was supposed to hit the tapir, or whether it
penned it in the post corral (not sure how it would do this), I'm not sure.
Having personally seen the tapir's ability to withstand heavy rocks falling
on its head, I don't think they could count on the log killing the tapir or
knocking it out. 

I also drew a pit trap below this, but I'm not sure they were part of the
same set-up.

Unfortunately, I only had time for this quick sketch, and didn't describe
the trap in words.

Does this trap sound familiar to anyone?

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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