SPECIES SURVIVAL COMMISSION

TAPIR SPECIALIST GROUP

Tapirs:
Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan
Published 1997

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Status and Action Plan of the Mountain Tapir
(Tapirus pinchaque)
Continued from Previous Page

Habitat association

The five major habitat types for the mountain tapir, ranked in decreasing order of food availability in Sangay National Park, Ecuador are: (1) chaparral; (2) Andean forest; (3) páramo; (4) pampas; and (5) riverine meadow.

Mountain tapir favor páramo during the dry season while during the wet season Andean forest is favored (see Table 2.2). The mountain tapirs seek shelter from storms and warmer temperatures at lower elevations during the rainy season. During the dry season biting insects increase in abundance, causing tapirs to occupy the cooler páramo zone (Stummer 1971). Elevations used by the mountain tapir range from 1400m to the snowline (ca 4500m) depending on latitude.

Bedding sites are frequently encountered in forest thickets. In areas with cattle these tend to be found on steep, forested mountain slopes inaccessible to cattle (Schauenberg 1969, Downer 1995a, 1996). Like other tropical species which live in areas of high rainfall, the mountain tapir depends upon supplementary mineral intake from mineral seeps and natural salt licks (Patzelt 1989, Stummer 1971). Additionally mountain tapir occasionally eat certain types of clayish mud according to native Puruhaes Indians (Hershkovitz 1954).

Life history aspects

Estrous lasts 3-4 days and is on a lunar cycle. The mountain tapir has a gestation period of around 393 days (Bonney and Crotty 1978), and gives birth to a single young, rarely twins (Eisenberg 1989, Walker 1964). It reaches sexual maturity at about three years of age. Males are reported to engage in violent confrontations over females.

Similarly to Malayan tapir (Williams 1979), home ranges of adults overlap by as much as a third, with a core territory belonging to the male, his mate, and offspring. Markings by dung piles (Lee 1993, Downer 1995a, 1996) and rubbings on trees seem to be part of a male's territorial behavior, as well as females who share the same territory. Urinary demarcation has been noted (Moehlman 1985) and is often associated with an instinctive pawing of the hind foot.

The core home range of mountain tapir averages 8.8km². The steep terrain mountain tapirs inhabit would actually provide it with a much greater surface habitat to exploit (Matola in litt.). Males show greater fidelity to their more circular territory and have a greater facility of defense than females. The mountain tapir is equally active during the day and night, with strong crepuscular behavior (Downer 1995a, 1996). Increased nocturnal activity may be witnessed in areas with a greater presence of humans and livestock invasion (Downer pers. obs.).

Feeding

Mountain tapir browse on leaves, branches, and fruits of the dwarf Andean forest, which is the climax sere or ecological stage in many areas. It will occasionally stand on its hind feet and reach with its prehensile trunk nearly 3m from the ground in order to obtain food. It will also topple trees, making additional forage available to smaller herbivores such as pudu deer (Pudu mephistopheles) and cavy (Cavia aperea). The mountain tapir uses its sensitive bristles on the tip of its proboscis, as well as its senses of smell, taste, and, to a lesser degree, sight in selecting palatable items. Mountain tapirs are selective browsers and show certain preferences (Castellanos-Peñafiel pers. comm., Downer 1996).

Status and threats

The mountain tapir has been categorized as Endangered (EN: A1c+2cd, C1, E) according to the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals (IUCN 1996).

It should be noted that the slow reproductive rate, large individual home range, and generally solitary nature of the mountain tapirs make them particularly vulnerable to extinction from hunting and habitat destruction.

Habitat destruction and hunting as linked threats

Habitat destruction and hunting are the major factors affecting the mountain tapir. This timid species is intolerant of disturbance and abandons a habitat in which it has been disturbed several times (Thornback and Jenkins 1982). Encroachment by agriculture is the primary threat to the mountain tapirs and is linked to hunting, since agriculturists hunt these animals as a traditional source of meat, pelts, and medicine.

Habitat destruction is linked to the expanding human population in the Andean region through slash-and-burn agriculture and the raising of cattle and sheep on steep and erodible slopes. This is forcing tapirs to disperse to elevations below optimal habitat and climate; less than 2000m elevation on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The mountain tapir is losing preferred habitat.

Hunting is also impacting mountain tapir populations. Many formerly occupied habitats, such as the upper Valley of Alao bordering Sangay National Park, still have high Andean forest, but the mountain tapirs have been exterminated by hunters and dogs in recent years (Sangay Park Rangers pers. comm. 1990). Cattle ranchers who periodically round up cattle also hunt mountain tapirs.

Mountain tapir (continued)

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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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