SPECIES
SURVIVAL
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TAPIR SPECIALIST GROUP
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Tapirs:
Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan
Published 1997
Status and Action Plan of Baird's Tapir
(Tapirus bairdi)
continued from Previous Page
Life history aspects
Captive males may be reproductively mature at 24 months; a captive female
was 22 months at first mating. Inter-estrous intervals in captive individuals ranges 25-38
days, with estrous periods lasting 1-4 days (Barongi 1986, Brown et al. 1994).
Although females resume cycling 14-18 days after parturition, the interbirth interval is
rarely less than 18 months for captive females; a single young is born after 390-410 days
for captive tapirs (Alvarez del Toro 1966, Barongi 1986, Eisenberg 1989, Brown et al.
1994). During the first week after birth the young is tucked in a secluded spot where the
female periodically returns from feeding bouts to nurse it; by day 10, the young actively
follows the mother (Eisenberg 1989). The spotted calves grow rapidly and are capable of
swimming at three weeks (Barongi, 1993).
The two male tapirs in Williams' (1984) study had overlapping home ranges,
and were observed coming to a pool and drinking together. Although primarily solitary,
females with dependent young, adults with juveniles, or feeding groups are not unusual
(Eisenberg 1989, Williams 1984, Terwilliger 1978). Vocalization and nose contact are
associated with the latter case (Terwilliger 1978). Individuals locate one another
proximally with olfactory processes, or distantly with a high-pitched, shrill whistle
(Terwilliger 1978).
In Mesoamerica minimum density is 0.05 animals/km2. Density
data are summarised in Table 4.2. It is interesting to note that there is a general
decline at Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama (see Fig. 4.3 in Panama status section).
This may be a relict of different sampling regimes (see Panama status section).
In northwestern Costa Rica, an adult male's nocturnal range (1.80km2)
was 12 times greater than his diurnal range (0.15km2), and a juvenile' male's
nocturnal range (1.61km2) was six times greater than his diurnal range (0.27km2)
(Williams 1984). Home ranges may be utilized in a rotational manner; a portion of the
annual home range may be used intensively before moving to another portion (Williams
1984).
Feeding
Foraging is in a zigzag pattern, either feeding on a single species or
several species of plants in a small area, or grabbing and consuming vegetation en-route
to another area (Terwilliger 1978). Species were consumed regardless of thorn
concentration, and most of the taller plant species were broken by tapirs at approximately
1m in height, averaging 2cm in diameter, for more efficient foraging purposes (Williams
1984).
Alvarez del Toro (1977), Terwilliger (1978), Janzen (1983), and Dirzo and
Miranda (1991) provide information on 112 plant species consumed by Baird's tapir
(tabularized in March 1994). In southwestern Costa Rica Naranjo (1995b) observed leaves,
stems, flowers, fruits, and bark consumed from 94 species of plants. In northwestern Costa
Rica leaves, stems, flowers, and fruits were taken from at least 54 species of herbs,
vines, shrubs, saplings, and a fern, from the forest understory and forest edge (Williams
1994). See Olmos (this volume) for additional species.
Tapirs often forage in tree-fall gaps, where they find an abundant supply
of leaves colonizing plants (Terwilliger 1978). Flood-plain vegetation provides a similar
situation, as do some sorts of selectively logged areas which mimic tree-fall gaps
(Fragoso 1991b, Matola 1992). The decline of foliage during the dry season (December
through April) is dietarily compensated by increased fallen fruit availability (Williams
1984, Naranjo 1995b).
Status and threats
Baird's tapir has been categorized as Vulnerable (VU: A1abcd+2bce, C2a)
according to the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals (IUCN 1996).
Although Baird's tapir is categorized as Vulnerable, the species is
considered endangered with extinction in most countries where it occurs. The main threats
to tapir survival vary among different regions and different countries. Dominant forces
affecting their populations are habitat loss and hunting. Tapirs are very susceptible to
extinction because of their low reproductive rate. After a 13 month gestation period, the
single young usually spends up to two years with its mother. This low recruitment rate
coupled with hunting threats and habitat loss, is a serious factor contributing to Baird's
tapir population decreases. In many areas tapirs are avoided or not preferred prey of
hunters. However, in some areas they are occasionally targeted heavily, even by a few
individual hunters. For instance, because of the pressure from poachers, the population of
tapirs in Barro Colorado Island, Panama, declined from an estimated 20 animals in 1932 to
just 2 in 1934 (Enders 1935, 1939; Fig. 4.3 in Panama status section). Between 1947-49 a
hunter shot 36 tapirs in the bottomlands of the area of what is now Parque Nacional Santa
Rosa, in northwestern Costa Rica (Janzen and Wilson 1983). During the 1960s a single
subsistence hunter (T. Galvez) killed 28 tapirs in a few years in the area of what is now
the main camp (in Polígono I) at Reserva de la Biósfera El Trifuno, Chiapas, Mexico (C.
Galvez pers. comm.). As early as 1874, Belt describes how a single man near Peña Blanca,
Nicaragua attacked and killed a tapir with nothing except for a knife. If chased by dogs,
individuals frequently will enter water where they are seen (Terwilliger, 1978).
Although tapirs may adapt to live, and sometimes even prosper (Fragoso
1991b) in places that have been subject to selective logging, they cannot withstand the
widespread deforestation that has occurred in many portions of their range. In this
section country profiles overviewing status and threats are presented in a north-south
order.
Baird's tapir (continued)
CITATION:
Brooks, Daniel M.; Bodmer, Richard E.; Matola, Sharon (compilers). 1997. Tapirs - Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. (English, Spanish, Portuguese.) IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. viii + 164 pp.
Online version: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/iucn-ssc/tsg/action97/cover.htm
Copyright © 1997 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
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