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Tapir Conservation
The Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group
Number 7, October 1997
See Table of Contents
Colombia
Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii)
Estimated population: 1,000-2,500
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
Mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)
Estimated population: 1,200
Study and conservation: T. pinchaque in Colombia
Dr. Jaime Cavelier and Diego Lizcano, funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York, continue their program of research and education in Colombia, where approximately half of the world's mountain tapirs still survive. Both are affiliated with the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá.
Map of Colombia. Dotted lines indicate elevations in the Andean chain of 1,000 m or higher. The mountain tapir has been recorded at elevations between 1,400 and 4,700 m, although it usually frequents elevations of 2,000 to 4,300 m (Downer, 1996).
Education outreach was conducted from March through July of 1996, targeting campesinos and colonos of the villages of Cortaderal, El Bosque and Santa Rosa. They addressed individuals as well as groups, and distributed high-quality posters and brochures. They also targeted school children in Risaralda with their conservation message. Working with them, a guide named Noel Monsalve contacted local hunters. In all cases, posters and brochures were handed out to lend force to the spoken word.
In 1997, Cavelier and Lizcano have targeted other areas for their program, including the Laguna de la Cocha in Nariño and Parque Las Orqiudeas in the Central Andes. Access here is impeded by narco-guerilla activity.
This past summer, Diego Lizcano spoke about the mountain tapir at a symposium on Conservation Biology in Cali, Colombia.
The team will also estimate populations of T. pinchaque based on "track traps" which collect footprints in specially prepared clay. The method is considered to be very accurate, and in many cases can help identify individual animals.
Currently, Lizcano and Dr. Cavelier are using infrared trail monitors to help determine activity patterns of the tapirs in both primary and secondary forest. They study hourly, daily and seasonal patterns, and they have collected data showing the tapirs' use of salt licks.
In response to a question in the Tapir Talk forum, Lizcano volunteered that he and Dr. Cavelier have evidence suggesting that in the 1920s T. pinchaque moved into the higher mountain rain forests as lower forests were cut to provide land for coffee plantations. He said the tapirs have also moved from the páramos (3500 m to 4200 m) to mountain rain forest (2000 to 3500 m). Cattle grazing has caused many tapirs to move from their fommer habitats in the Central Andes of Colombia.
Diego Lizcano
Laboratorio de Ecologia Vegetal
Departamento de Ciencias Biologicas
Universidad de los Andes
Carrera 1 No 18A-70
Bogotá, Colombia
ecolvege@zeus.uniandes.edu.co
Joost Wilms to begin project with T. terrestris in Colombia, 1998
Joost Wilms, a tropical ecologist at the University of Amsterdam, is set to begin a study of Tapirus terrestris in Araracuara, middle Río Caquetá, Colombian Amazon. This project is carried out in collaboration with the Fundación Tropenbos-Colombia and the Hugo de Vries Laboratory, University of Amsterdam, and focuses mainly on habitat use and home range of the species and the influence of open rock savanna vegetation and salados (salt licks) on home range. Hunting pressure and hunting regulation by the indigenous people in the area is regarded. Radiotelemetry will be used in addition to other methods.
Contact with the Colombian govemment and indigenos in Araracuara is being made through Tropenbos-Colombia, and the project (at least two years) should begin in mid-January, 1998. An extension of four years is likely. Wilms is interested in discussing methodologies of radiotelemetry with any who have experience. He can be contacted through Tapir Talk, or at the following:
Joost J.A.M. Wilms M.Sc.
Department of Systematics, Evoluhon en Paleobiology
University of Amsterdam
Kruislaan 318
1098 SM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Telefax: + 31 20 5257662
Telephone: + 31 20 5257844
wilms@bio.uva.nl
Direct dial office: + 31 20 5257830
Direct dial home: + 31 20 6208064
Telefax: + 31 20 5257840
Venezuela
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Trinidad & Tobago
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Guyana
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Surinam
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
French Guiana
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
This map indicates general locations in Brasil discussed in the newsletter. Tarcisio da Silva Santos, Jr., studies tapirs in Brasília National Park, just north of the city of Brasília. Patrícia Medici studies tapirs in Moro do Diabo State Park, near Sao Paulo; and Kevin Flesher reports on a remnant population of tapirs near Porto Seguro.
Brasil
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
Patrícia Medici: study and conservation project, Moro do Diabo State Park
Patrícia Medici, a conservation biologist at The Ecological Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas [IPE]), Brazil, is working in the Atlantic rainforest in that country at the Morro do Diabo State Park, a protected area of 35,000 hectares. She is studying the auto-ecology and behavior of the lowland tapir, Tapirus terrestris.
Her study is aimed at gathering data pertaining to home range, habitat use, and range overlap between different individuals. T. terrestris as seed dispersers will be addressed, as well. Feces are being collected and analyzed at Sao Paulo University.
The occupation of agricultural lands by the lowland tapir is also a facet of this field study, and radiotelemetry techniques are being used to track the collared animals. Medici has found that pitfall traps work best to capture T. terrestris within her study site.
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 Left: A box trap baited with salt. Above: Moro do Diabo, high ground from which radiotelemetry signals are received. Photos © copyright 1997 by Patrícia Medici. |
Another objective of this field work is to look at the possibility of restoring degraded areas within the park through reforestation of native plant species. Medici has ensured that a strong component of this field work includes community based environmental education. Patricia Medici is an intemational partner of Wildlife Preservation Trust International (WPTI). Until December, 1997, the project is sponsored by the Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente (FNMA), the Environmental Ministry of the Brazilian government. Medici is seeking additional funding to continue her work with tapirs.
Patrícia Medici
Conservation Biologist
IPE - Ecological Research Institute
Field Coordinator
Conservation Biology of the Lowland Tapir Project
fumaca@stetnet.com.br
T. terrestris study in the cerrado of Brasília National Park
Brazilian post-graduate Tarcisio da Silva Santos,Jr., is conducting a study of T. terrestris in the cerrado of Brazil. Twenty-two percent of Brazil (2 million km2) is represented by cerrado. Preliminary studies indicate that home range requirements for the Brazilian tapir (T. terrestris) in this biome may be several times larger than that of tapirs studied in rainforest areas. Results of recent research estimates that 45.4% of the cerrado will be used for agriculture by the year 2000. Local conservation strategies depend on understanding the requirements of T. terrestris in this biome. The study area, Brasília National Park, consists of 30 hectares of cerrado and is home to an estimated 10 or more tapirs. There are two distinct seasons: hot/rainy and dry/cool. Mean annual rainfall is 1576 mm; relative humidity ranges between 12 and 80%. The park is surrounded by urban development, and domestic dogs enter the park in groups, attacking wild animals.
The project uses radiotelemetry to study the tapirs' home range, habitat use and preference, trail use and diet. Areas of use will be studied in detail.
The project seeks to confirm anecdotal reports that some tapirs leave the park during the dry season.
One animal has been collared; the goal is six. Pitfall traps camouflaged with sticks and grass were used; dimensions were 2.40 m long, 1.50 m wide and 1.60 m deep. Additional funds are being sought.
Tarcísio da Silva Santos, Jr.
Parque Nacional de Brasília
(Água Mineral)
Via EPIA - BR 040
Brasília - DF - Brasil 70630-000
dasilva@guarany.cpd.unb.br
Ecuador
Mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)
Estimated population: 1,100
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
Ruben Nuñez's mountain tapir conservation outreach
Strengthened communications as a result of current newsbriefs on Tapir Talk has resulted in the funding of Craig Downer's assistant, Ruben Nuñez, for an extended three month period. Funding was provided by Wildlife Preservation Trust International (WPTI), through the Tapir Specialist Group. WPTI funded the project from May to September, 1997, and is now working with the Tapir Preservation Fund to secure a grant that will allow this valuable work to continue.
Ruben Nuñez is a graduate of the Agricultural Technical Department of Ambato University in Ecuador. He has completed a Master's program in Agricultural Engineering and has assisted on radio-collaring expeditions with T. pinchaque. Nuñez has also secured logistical support from the Catholic church, who are now urging people through their "power of convocation," to hear talks from Ruben Nuñez addressing human interaction with nature.
 | Dotted lines indicate elevations in the Andean chain of 1,000 m or higher. The mountain tapir has been recorded at elevations between 1,400 and 4,700 m, although it usually frequents elevations of 2,000 to 4,300 m (Downer, 1996). |
Detail map of a section of Ecuador showing areas that are the focus of conservation and education work by Craig C. Downer and Ruben Nuñez. Downer has radio-collared several T. pinchaque in Sangay National Park. The new Guamote-Macas road allows easy public access to locations that have traditionally been safe for wildife.
- So far, Nuñez has taken conservation education to approximately 10,000 Ecuadorians since February, mainly in the states of Tungurahua and Chimborazo.
- He is intent to travel to more remote villages with his environmental education programs.
- He has succeeded in forming several Mountain Tapir Clubs in schools, and has assisted one school in building a model of T. pinchaque habitat to express it as a "living sponge."
- Ruben has also given his program to 250 members of the police force in Riobamba, a location where poached tapir products are sold. They stated they were not aware of the laws concerning this species, and requested copies of the law, saying they would jail those in violation. They had heretofore not been told they should take impounded animals, live or dead, to the INEFAN office.
- While Craig Downer is continuing on with the scientific studies of T. pinchaque in the Ecuadorian Andes, Ruben Nunez's education efforts are an imperative part of the entire program.
Tapir Specialist Group members are urged to write letters of concern. Anyone receiving this newsletter is aware of the desperate status of the mountain tapir. A letter will officially register growing concern about this situation. The person to contact is:
Rubén Wilfrido Núñez Sánchez
Roca Fuerte, 806 Juan Leon Mera
Barrio Ecologico 5 de Junio
Baños, Tungurahua, Ecuador
Telephone:
593 3 827-272
593 3 740-581
Craig C. Downer's 1996/97 expedition to Ecuador
Much conservation work was accomplished and many significant contacts were made on Craig Downer's 1996/1997 trip to Ecuador. This year's continuation of his ongoing work with Tapirus pinchaque was funded by the Tapir Preservation Fund and others. Highlights from a long report on the six-month expediton are noted:
- 23 March 1997: We reached several million viewers through the "LA Television" program hosted by Freddy Ehlers. Impact was especially great because recent flooding resulting in both human and animal fatalities was shown to be exacerbated by damage to highland soils and extirpation of the seed-dispersing mountain tapirs in some regions. These animals were shown in situ using excerpts from film footage I had shot for "Esperanza, the Mountain Tapir," produced by Richard Brock of Living Planet Productions, Bristol, U.K. (For orders call: +44-0117-974-1948.) Close-up footage documents destruction of the highlands by floods and droughts due to deforestation and overgrazing along with the role of the mountain tapir in the survival of its habitat. This TV show, the most popular in Ecuador, is put on by "Teleamazonas," the national channel. Enrique Bayas, Director of ecological programming, expressed interest in doing an hour documentary about the mountain tapir in Sangay National Park using its own video team.
- A segment similar to the above was done, again with live interview, for the AMBAVISION channel out of Tungurahua's capital, Ambato.
- Numerous radio interviews were given, including Radiofonica of Riobamba, Radio Lider of Ambato, and Voz del Sanctuario of Baños. These interviews will be rebroadcast throughout the northern Andean radio network as well as internationally (Radiofonica).
- We gave numerous talks and slide-lecture programs were given in person to large and small groups of students. These were developed and given by myself in conjunction with Ruben Nuñez, of Baños, Tungurahua (see report on Nuñez' work, above).
- As a result of our lectures, two high schools are making models of the Andean ecosystem as a "living sponge" which intercepts and gravity feeds water to all lower lying ecosystems, including to the Amazon Basin and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They have begun to display these in market places, bus terminals and other public areas.
- Another outcome was that several mountain tapir clubs were started in schools. These are dedicated to educating the public and saving the species.
- Talks and slide programs were given at the following universities: Universidad Agraria de Chimborazo-Riobamba (twice), Universidad Tecnica Agraria-Ambato, Universidad de San Francisco-Quito, Universidad Central-Quito and Universidad Pontificada Catolica-Quito (about 500 in attendance). We were happy to learn that a group of professors from the Universidad de San Francisco and the Universidad Pontificada Catolica have taken steps to procure and restore forest habitats and to launch educational campaigns among campesino populations which jeopardize the mountain tapirs.
- Our talks at the Sagrada Corazon Catholic school in Baños resulted in our tapir work being included when the Catholic Church used its "power of convocation" to help spread the conservation message in outlying towns. After I left, they took Ruben to the village of San Francisco to deliver our program to nearly 400 campesinos, many of whom had traditionally killed mountain tapirs and destroyed forest and páramos in Sangay National Park. Our goal is to reach all such communities, beginning in the states of Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Morona-Santiago, Cañar, and Azuay.
- Early April, 1997: I made an expedition with a team of eight assistants to the Purshi sector of Sangay National Park in order to capture, radio-collar and release four adult tapirs. Unfortunately, the nearly continuous assault of torrential storms and mists made capture impossible at this time. However, I was able to train the team verbally and through demonstration, and have left four Telonics collars with Ruben Nuñez for future use, or to be used when I return. We constructed a plan by which Nuñez can work with the rangers at Sangay on future capture expeditions. Typically, the heaviest rains come between May and July. It is hoped that future work can include the use of satellite transmitter collars.
In the Purshi sector of Sangay National Park:
- We learned that local campesinos had recently entered in large numbers into this formerly pristine sector. There was burning near the site where the Guamote-Macas road enters the park from the west. The campesinos were evicted along with their cattle, but will most likely return. I suggested a plan whereby the residents of Atillo might derive alternate sources of income through culturing of blue-green algae in the Atillo lakes.
- There was a cattle invasion in the Tambillo sector to the north of Rio Upano, and poaching had occurred recently. Road construction was heavy here at the time of my visit.
- The Army Corps of Engineers is completing the Guamote-Macas road and approximately 16 kms remain to be constructed. Capitan Cabezas is in charge of the work and has promised the full military support in protecting the Purshi sector against colonizers, poachers, etc. This support has been called upon, but when the Corps leaves, military support will be much harder to obtain.
- Ecological devastation in the steep, western portion of the Guamote-Macas road has resulted in extensive loss of forests, páramos and their soils and the exposition of bedrock, though some primary succession has recently taken hold in the form of lichens, mosses, ferns and fern allies, and some flowering plants.
- INEFAN, the national natural resource agency in charge of parks and wildlife, has recently decided to relinquish control over considerable areas of the 518,000-hectare Sangay National Park, both in the lower, eastem Purshi sector where settlement occurs along the Guamote-Macas road, and in the new extension of the park to the south of Purshi. INEFAN is thus handing over lands to settlers rather than working out land exchanges. This type of land transaction is not new, but it is disturbing. It is also a shame in light of the recent greatly expanded declaration of park and reserve status on lands throughout Ecuador. (These include an area around Antisana Volcano, South of Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve, where the mountain tapir still survives in significant numbers.)
Continuing the work:
- This trip resulted in my being asked to teach several university-level classes on ecology and to work with government agencies and conservation groups, including the Fundacion Golondrinas in northern Ecuador, which would like to see mountain tapirs re-introduced into their small, securely protected reserve. Funding is being pursued for these projects
Publications:
- I have subrnitted articles in Spanish to La Minga (Baños), Revista Ecologica (Quito), and Geomundo (México). These should be published soon.
- April 1997: An alert on poaching in Sangay National Park was published in the "Briefly" section of Oryx.
Craig C. Downer
President
Andean Tapir Fund
P.O. Box 456
Minden, Nevada 89423 USA
(Ed note: This year the Andean Tapir Fund received full nonprofit 501 (c) 3 status.)
Peru
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
Mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)
Estimated population: 200
No report.
Bolivia
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Paraguay
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Argentina
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
Uruguay
Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Estimated population: Unknown
No report.
CONTACTS
Chair: Patrícia Medici
Deputy Chair: Sheryl Todd
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