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Tapir Conservation
The Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group
Number 7, October 1997
See Table of Contents
Tapir portraits in wood and wool
by Kate Wilson
In response to interest from the United States, several Ecuadorian artisans are now producing tapir-themed art. Tapirs have been newly featured in woven wall hangings, modelled figures, paintings, and sculptures from the state of Tungurahua and the Amazon region.
Salasacan weavers
The Jerez family, weavers of Salasaca, near Ambato, Ecuador, has traditionally made woven wall hangings. These hangings, ranging from pillow size to wall size, are created on hand-powered looms from wool the Jerez family weaves and dyes.
Until now, the Salasacan hangings have not featured tapirs. Possibly this is because tapirs are shy and elusive. The hangings focus on what the weavers see frequently, including llamas, birds, flowers, scenes such as "snapshots" of women on their way to market, ancient symbols and geometric designs, and full-length views of Salasacan dancers in traditional dress.
These intricate designs are woven in, rather than painted onto flat, finished pieces of cloth. Despite the demands of this method of creation, the hangings are so detailed that they include the individual fronds of flowers, and clefts in the feet of llamas.
Now, the Jerez family has begun to include tapirs in their weavings, in response to interest from Craig Downer (story, page 14) and the Tapir Gallery (story, page 1).
The hangings feature the adult mountain tapir, complete with white-edged ears and white-rimmed mouth. The tapir itself is based on a drawing by Kevin Burkhill. The weavers have added the bromeliads of the tapirs' habitat in the foreground, and a snowcapped Sangay volcano (a prominent feature of Sangay National Park) in the background.
The tapir is represented in its natural browns, blacks, and whites; but the weavers have offset these somber tones with brilliant blues in the sky (sometimes complete with large crayon-yellow sun rays), and red and orange flowers by the tapirs' feet. And the detail in these new hangings is as precise as in the traditional ones; the tapirs' eyes have reflections of the sunlight in them, and when the tapir is portrayed with one foot raised, individual toes have been woven.
These weavings are sold in the United States by the Tapir Gallery, and in Ecuador by the Jerez family, starting a new tradition.
Needlecrafters and painters in Tungurahua
In contrast to the large and elaborate wall hangings from Salasaca, the painted embroideries from Baños are fairly small.
The works, which measure about 4 x 5 inches, are done on cloth stretched, in an embroidery hoop. They show either an adult mountain tapir or a striped youngster. The tapir is embroidered, while the background is painted. These realistic portraits are mounted in oval mats of handmade recycled paper.
The artisans are members of CAMFA, Centro Alternativo de la Mujer y la Familia (Alternative Center for Women and the Family). CAMFA, is an enrichment center for women and children of Ecuador.
A volunteer, Felicia Wilhelmy, wanted to help the CAMFA women become self-sufficient: a native Ecuadorian, Ruben Nuñez (story, page 13), hoped to teach his fellow Ecuadorians about conservation. Downer, Wilhelmy and Nuñez collaborated, and tapir art is the result.
Nuñez makes regular educational. rounds, including the CAMFA center There he teaches the women and children about conservation, including the endangered status of the tapir. Nuñez and Downer pass out pamphlets, show pictures, and explain the tapir's part in the health and ecology of the region. Wilhelmy the encourages the women as they sketch and model tapirs (a sculpture made of solid, recycled paper is in prototype).
CAMFA's goal is to help these artisans generate income for both themselves and CAMFA programs. Nuñez hopes that small, attractive portrayals of the tapir, combined with other conservation education he is spearheading, will foster a sense of responsibility in Ecuadorians for this animal.
Sculptors of the Amazon
Ruben Nuñez is also commissioning artisans from the Amazon region carve tapirs in balsa wood. Because Nunez is still finalizing these arrangements, few details are available. He writes that he hopes the result will be "an affective image of the tapir and its habitat."
The Salasacan weavers, the Baños artisans, and the Amazon sculptors have begun portraying the tapirs of their own country. This upsurge in tapir-themed merchandise from indigenous artisans is caused largely by an upsurge of interest in tapirs from consumers outside South America. The artisans' sponsors hope that art, combined with an increase in conservation education, will create protective interest in tapirs on the part of the Ecuadorian public as well.
Kate Wilson
Kate_Wilson@Tandem.com
Report from Brasil
T. terrestris in the Northern Mata Atlantica
by Kevin Flesher; October 7, 1997
On a recent trip away from our study site in the Itubera area of Bahia, Brasil, we were excited to find tapir tracks in a lowland rain forest only 12 km west of the beach town of Porto Seguro. The following is information I gathered while visiting the forest.
Location and geography. Estacao Veracruz is a private reserve owned by the Odebrecht Corporation. It is located just north of the Eunapolis-Porto Seguro highway in southern Bahia. The reserve consists of 6,047 hectares of lowland Atlantic rain forest (a big forest block for this severely endangered ecosystem) of which approximately 76% is an incredibly beautiful climax forest with the upper canopy reaching 30-40+ m. The reserve lies on a flat, sandy plain with "canyons" created along the streams and rivers by the action of clear swift water cutting through the soft earth. At least five major streams course through the forest. Outside the reserve, the landscape is a depressing example of the misuse of land, evoking images of what the earth might look like after a nuclear holocaust. In this case the reality is the complete replacement of high biodiversity rain forest with very low biodiversity degraded cattle pasture. Most of the forests were destroyed between 1960 and 1975.
Tapirs. Although we did not see tapirs on our two-day visit, people who work in the park see them occassionally and our guide got a picture of one running ahead of him on a park road. Tapir numbers are unknown and estimates varied from 5-20 animals for the reserve. The guide (who seemed the most knowledgable person we spoke with) believes there are 5-6 tapirs living here. He claims there are two types of tapir (a claim many people made in northastern Honduras as well): anta sapoteira = a big variety; anta mirim = small variety. He says the pelage is the same in both "species."
Hunting. Although hunting is prohibited throughout Brasil (a few exceptions exist), it is rampant in Bahia and has led to the extirpation of many species of wildlife. In our study area, tapirs are reported to have become extinct 20-30 years ago. The presence of tapirs in the Veracruz reserve is quite amazing, really. Enforced protection only began with the Odebrecht acquisition in 1991. We were told that before this time, the forest was heavily hunted by both subsistence and commmercial hunters. White-lipped peccaries, brown howler monkeys, and muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides) were all extirpated from the area 20-30 years ago and the scarcity of wildlife today insinuates that populations have yet to recover. So, how did these tapirs survive? An intriguing question I cannot answer. The good news is that the reserve is well protected now and we saw no evidence of hunting in our hikes through the core area. A little bit of hunting still goes on in the southeastern corner, but with guards patrolling and educational outreach, this is being eliminated. Tapirs have been seen within 1 km of the highway, so it appears they feel safe enough to venture out of the forest core.
Tapir tracks. We found one set of tapir tracks along a stream in the central part of the reserve. The tapir had been using the area recently as the tracks only looked a few days old. There were many tracks in the moist earth, all the same size, so it looked like the beast was traveling alone. Print size was 16 cm wide and about 14 cm long. The guide said this was a big animal, and yet the track size is small compared to the Baird's tapir tracks I found in Belize and Honduras. Is this track size normal for a large T. terrestris?
Habitat. The tracks were found along a swift clear stream 2-3 m wide and up to 30 cm deep. Herbaceous wetland plants were abundant as were tree ferns and epiphytic philodendrons. The slopes on both sides of the stream were steep, and we followed several tapir trails which led into the old growth forest of the uplands. Abundant tree fall gaps in the uplands probably provide excellent foraging habitat allowing the tapirs to exploit forest resources away from the waterways.
Conservation status. Almost all the fauna of the northern Mata Atlantica is highly endangered, and the tapirs are on the brink of extinction. This small population is special in that it has survived intensive hunting pressure and landscape alterations, but it is so small that it may not be viable the long run. As with many species in this threatened ecosystem, "shuttling" individuals in an attempt to simulate dispersal and maintain genetic robustness may be the only way to manage the tapirs in the long run. Reforestation is a complex and expensive proceedure and it will be a long time before forest remnants are linked through "biodiversity corridors." From our own research and the information we have from others, we believe this is the northernmost tapir population in the Mata Atlantica.
Visiting the reserve. Visitors are required to be accompanied by guides while hiking. There is usually someone at the Visitor Center to make arrangements; the managers enjoy conversing with other researchers.
Kevin Flesher
Fundacao BioBrasil
c/o Richard Hartley
gordon@provider.com.br
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