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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
Costa Rica
Status
Field studies concerning the ecology of Baird's tapir have occurred with greater frequency in Costa Rica than any other country in the Meso-American region. These investigations, coupled with a history of protected areas management in Costa Rica yield estimates of tapir numbers in the wild at around 1000 (Vaughan 1990, in litt.). Without taking sampling methods into account, it is possible that this reflects a decline – ten years earlier Costa Rica was estimated to contain 1800-3500 tapirs in protected areas (Williams 1984).
Currently populations of Baird's tapir in Costa Rica are confined mainly to those protected areas and reserves where human access is limited. A total of 90 protected areas exist in Costa Rica, including National Parks, Monuments, Biological Reserves, Forest Reserves, Protected Zones, National Refuges for Wildlife, Indigenous Reserves, and National Forests. However, tapirs are not found in all areas.
The following conservation areas are believed to harbor populations of Baird's tapir (population estimate follows each area): Arenal (?), Cordillera Volcánica Central (c. 100), La Amistad (c. 200), Corcovado, Osa (c. 250), Guanacaste-Santa Rosa (c. 20), and Llanuras de Tortuguero (c. 100). These population estimates cannot be termed accurate, but rather are rough approximations based on field studies and reports.
Conservation laws and education
Laws for the conservation of wildlife exist as a directive from the President of the Republic of Costa Rica and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mines. This was established as Wildlife Law No. 7317 on 7 December 1992. The Costa Rican government has also issued a list of protected species which cannot be hunted or kept in captivity. The tapir is on this list.
The establishment of National Parks in Costa Rica began in 1945. Throughout the years, the development and maintenance of protected areas has been a large part of Costa Rica's profile. No less than 20 conservation non-governmental organizations are actively involved in the protection of Costa Rican natural resources. Environmental education is addressed by many of these organizations.
Threats
Approximately 80% of Costa Rica has been deforested. Little natural vegetation remains outside protected areas. Preserving the integrity of the remaining protected areas is imperative for the future conservation of Baird's tapir in Costa Rica. Illegal gold mining and increasing tree plantations for timber are threat to tapir in the Osa peninsula (Naranjo 1994).
Forest corridors linking Costa Rican protected areas have not been well-developed. Subsequently, tapir populations within designated protected areas are not transitory, but rather restricted to each area where they are known to exist. This reduces the chance for natural dispersal, leaving populations vulnerable to deleterious effects because of demographic and genetic stochasticity.
Cattle ranching is harmful to populations of Baird's tapir as well. Barbed wire fences restrict natural dispersal; only damaged fences and unfenced watercourses are passable (Williams 1984). Additionally, cattle are vectors of diseases which have proven fatal to entire populations of wild ungulates (Williams 1984).
Tapirs represent an important protein source for rural people. Continued
hunting pressures will put even greater stress on existing populations of Baird's tapir.
Panama
Status
Populations of Baird's tapir are basically found in four or five regions. Along the western border where forests adjoin the southeastern forests of Costa Rica's La Amistad Conservation Area, sightings of tapir and reports of feces and tracks are prevalent. There are also tapirs at Barro Colorado Island and probably also in neighboring forests like Parque Nacional Soberanía. The species is also known from Kuna Yala in San Blas. In southern Panama, in the Azuero Peninsula, is the National Park Cerro Hoya, and tapir have been reported from this protected area. Forests in the Darien Province leading into northwestern Colombia have had repeated sightings of tapir, as well as reports of tracks and feces.
The tapir populations in Panama were estimated to be between 200 and 500 animals, largely due to the amount of forest left in the above mentioned areas. Up to now no extensive tapir studies have been undertaken in Panama with the exception of Terwilliger's study on Barro Colorado Island in the late 1970s. The tapirs in Terwilliger's study were progeny of individuals reintroduced to the island during the 1950s (Terwilliger 1978).
The estimated tapir density at Barro Colorado Island (BCI) has decreased through the years (Fig. 4.3). The animals were habituated to humans and received supplemental feeding for years, although this practice was later suspended. The sampling effort of the earlier studies (e.g., Terwilliger 1978, Glanz 1982) was heavily biased to the areas close to the main buildings, where habituated animals concentrated. Later studies (e.g., Wright et al. 1994) have increased the sampling effort in other areas of the island. Thus density differences may be the result of sampling artifacts, and differential degree of tapir habituation. Alternatively it is possible that since supplemental feeding has been suspended, the population was not self-sufficient on the the 15km2 island, and there was an actual population decline. A combination of both factors is also possible.
Figure 4.3. Tapir population density trends at Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Sources of data are noted in Table 4.2. Although the island initially supported some tapirs when it was formed in 1914, during construction of the Panama Canal, these populations were probably hunted out. Reintroductions took place in 1929 and again during the late 1950s (Terwilliger 1978). Since that date, and until the late 1980s, supplementary feeding was provided for the animals. Note that sampling methods were different in each case.
Conservation laws and education
Under an executive order 104 from 1967, La Ley 23, and La Resolucion 50-080 of INRENARE (Instituto de Recursos Naturales Renovables), the species is protected due to its status of being an endangered species.
Asociacion para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (ANCON), Fundacion Natura, and Sociedad Audubon de Panama are all active non-governmental organizations. Additionally, the Summit Zoo has an active wildlife and conservation education program.
Recent attention directed by the international conservation community to the tapirs held in Panamanian institutions has assisted in raising the profile of these animals. Plans to develop and distribute a conservation poster about the tapir are forthcoming. The poster will be printed in English and Spanish, and distributed throughout the Mesoamerican region. Further collaborations between Panamanian institutions and foreign conservation organizations and zoological facilities are foreseen.
Captive breeding
The Summit Zoo in the Canal Zone presently holds Baird's tapir. Receiving many local visitors and obtaining a high level of government support, the animals at the Summit Zoo receive considerable attention. Breeding of Baird's tapir at the Summit Zoo has occurred.
Threats
A road entering the remaining forests in the Darien Province, connecting Panama to Colombia, has been proposed. Should this road scheme be realized, new forest territory would then be accessible. Settlers moving into the region using the new road system would invariably put pressures on tapir populations and habitats in this area of Panama.
Crop expansion along alluvial river plains, a preferred habitat of tapir (Fragoso 1991b), remains a serious threat. Humans prefer growing cash crops along a river plain because this habitat offers the richest nutrients and the flattest ground.
In areas where tapir populations are at high density they are hunted and consumed by Embera Indians (Bennett 1962, Torres de Arauz 1972). However hunting could serve as a major threat as recruitment rate is very low (Terwilliger 1978), contributing to Baird's tapir population declines.
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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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