|
Tapirs:
Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan
Published 1997
Status and Action Plan of the Mountain Tapir
(Tapirus pinchaque)
Continued from Previous Page
Ecuador
Ecuador is second to Colombia in its number of surviving mountain tapirs, though these are being killed or displaced by habitat destruction at an alarming rate. Bordering Colombia's El Angel in the north is the Páramo El Angel region. Tapirs occur here and a small portion are protected by reserves.
Cayambe-Coca National Ecological Reserve: Further south there is a population in the Cayambe-Coca National Ecological Reserve (403,103 ha) which is threatened by cattle production. Additionally an oil pipeline and highway through Cayambe-Coca threatens the southern side of the reserve, but the SUBIR project (an Ecuadorian NGO) is working diligently to protect this area.
South of Cayambe-Coca, the Antisana Volcano region harbors mountain tapirs, but hunting and forest destruction threaten the populations. Many of the tapirs hunted around Antisana are sold on the open street markets of Quito. The hooves and snout (Fig. 2.2) are sold to cure epilepsy and heart disease or used as an aphrodisiac, while the intestines are made into a soup to cure intestinal parasites. These traditional medicines have been used since pre-Colombian times (Von Hagen 1957). The tanned pelt is sold as a rug, blanket, or made into leather articles, and the meat is consumed.
Figure 2.2. Snout and hooves of mountain tapir
sold to cure diseases.
[Photo by C. Downer]
South of Antisana in the Sumaco region mountain tapirs are reported to descend to 1500m ASL, perhaps hybridizing with lowland tapir (P. Mena and Sumaco locals pers. comm. 1990). The Llanganatis region north of Baños supports a population of mountain tapir. This area has recently been declared a national forest reserve by Ecuador.
Sangay National Park: South of Llanganatis is Sangay National Park (5180km2), which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This region has been the principle study site of the author since 1989 and recent expansion to the Rio Paute headwaters has nearly doubled its original size (Fundacion Natura 1992). However, extensive human colonization remains a serious threat, prompting UNESCO to list Sangay as a World Heritage Site In Danger (UNESCO 1992). The Tungurahua Volcano region, particularly the Páramo de Minza, has a dwindling population of mountain tapirs jeopardized by livestock and hunters. Located in the central portion of Sangay, the El Altar Volcano has some mountain tapirs on its eastern slopes. However, here and in areas to the south at least 50 tapir have been hunted since 1989 (El Altar locals and rangers pers comm., pers. obs.) (Fig. 2.3).
Figure 2.3. Decapitated head of poached mountain
tapir.
[Photo by A. Castellanos-P.]
In the upper Alao Valley mountain tapirs have been entirely hunted out. Although some suitable forest remains, much of the páramo is burned causing topsoils to erode rapidly, exposing bedrock, and causing landslides. The El Placer sector of Sangay still has a reasonable population of tapirs, but this population is decreasing due to human disturbance and hunting (S. McCarthy pers. comm., pers. obs.). The Culebrillas sector is intensively used by cattle (Downer 1996) and four radio-collared tapir have been poached by locals.
In the Yanayacu sector toward the southeast cattle are causing soil erosion which deleteriously modifies tapir habitat. A community planning to graze cattle in Sangay plans to enter at Yanayacu. Most of the cattle in this region are owned by the Gualaraj hacienda, and many tapir hunters are from the community of Etien, south of Alao. However a recent meeting of the park superintendent with members of this community was reportedly successful in enlightening some individuals of the plight of the tapir, and why it is so important not to hunt or unnecessarily disturb this sensitive species (V. Alvarez pers. comm. 1995).
South of Culebrillas, Sangay's Purshi sector has some of the most extensive high Andean forests and stable mountain tapir populations (Fig. 2.4a). However, a government approved road is being constructed through this region pending national funding (Fig. 2.4b). This was protested by several Ecuadorian conservationists but construction continues (Downer 1990). Although initial construction caused many tapirs to abandon the area, the contractor depleted the funding and the road was left uncompleted. Recently however, the national government announced plans to finish the road and colonists are already starting to enter the area and burn forest (Downer 1995b). Ecuadorian authorities received UNESCO funding to conduct an Environmental Impact Study on the effects of the road, which hopefully will stop construction. The terrain is comprised largely of lithosols (shallow soils above rock), so colonization will result in ecological disaster within a short time.
Figure 2.4a. The peaceful Purshi sector of Ecuador's Sangay National Park (south of Culebrillas) before development of the road.
[Photo by C. Downer]
Figure 2.4b. Construction of highway through the Purshi sector of Sangay N.P., threatening 600km2 of virgin Andean forest.
[Photo by C. Downer]
Although tapirs inhabit the region south of Purshi in Sangay's new extension, overgrazing by cattle and sheep threatens much of the area. South of Sangay some of the natives report that the Las Cajas National Recreation Area may still have a small, remnant population of tapirs in a remote area. However, the majority believe tapirs were exterminated prior to the mid-1980s. The area is heavily overgrazed by livestock and the forests are almost completely destroyed. This has resulted in extensive topsoil erosion and the region is suffering from drought.
Podocarpus National Park: Podocarpus National Park, the southernmost in Ecuador, is the chief watershed for the state capital city of Loja and may harbor 500 tapirs. However, these are being illegally hunted at an unsustainable rate. Illegal gold-mining operations threaten eastern Podocarpus. Streams are polluted with mercury and miners hunt both mountain and lowland tapirs as well as other endangered species such as the bearded guan (Penelope barbata). Arcoiris (an Ecuadorian NGO) had the military evict miners, but after the war with Peru in 1995 the miners returned. Arcoiris successfully halted timber extractors who were harvesting the two rare species of Podocarpus conifers which occur in the park.
Along the Cordilleran ridge of the park tapirs occur at Lagunas del Compadre and Lagunas de Campanas, much of the latter being a private nature sanctuary for biological research (pers. obs. 1992). However, burning of forest and overgrazing by livestock increase in intensity toward Vilcabamba, which lies west of Podocarpus and south of Loja. This lower region is largely desertified due its geographical position, burning of forest, and overgrazing of livestock. Consequently many of the people living west of the Andes suffer from nearly constant shortages of water. Although tapirs occur south of Vilcabamba in the Valladolid vicinity, they are being hunted extensively and forests in the region are being rapidly burned or cut.
Straddling the Peruvian border, the Cordillera del Condor also harbors a significant population of tapirs. However these are threatened with indiscriminate hunting and their habitat is being rapidly destroyed. The endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) occurs in this area, representing the only case of a primate being sympatric with mountain tapir (Mittermeier et al. 1975).
Peru
In addition to the Cordillera del Condor region just described, mountain tapirs occur in northwestern Peru in the provinces of Piura and Cajamarca. Tapirs occurred east of Ayabaca above the Tapal hacienda in 1988 (pers. obs.). However, they were being rapidly eliminated through subsistence and trophy hunting just five years later (Zegarra in litt.). This region has also experienced extensive colonization. Forest and páramo are burned annually for cattle, thus being a more serious threat than hunting. The lakes of this region are frequented by brujas (local witch doctors) who believe the lakes are inhabited by spirits. These taboos keep some people from disturbing and bathing in Laguna del Tapir, where tapirs occurred in 1988. However, tapirs have been reduced recently in this area (A. Zegarra pers. comm.).
To the east of Tapal in Cajamarca tapir populations are fragmented. The newly created Tabaconas-Namballe National Ecological Reserve east of Huancabamba has tapir (Downer 1988). Although hunting still occurs in the area, slash-and-burn agriculture and grazing of livestock were being effectively controlled in 1988.
Mountain tapir have been reported further south in Jaen Province, Baez, and other places (Grimwood 1969, B. Peyton pers. comm., Barongi in litt.). Whether they still occur in these areas is unknown, as colonization, agrarian reform, and Peru's rising population remain as threats (World Resources Institute 1993). It is certain that the Peruvian population of mountain tapir is seriously threatened and perhaps only a few hundred survive.
The crisis of mountain tapir survival
For many people living in the range of mountain tapir daily survival is difficult with families being hungry, legally and economically dispossessed, and their future uncertain (A. Grajal in litt.). It is difficult to convince impoverished people inhabiting overpopulated regions that they should learn to appreciate the mountain tapir more as a fellow creature than as a commodity. Moreover, one of the primary reasons to raise cattle and sheep in the high Andes is that these livestock are one of the few ways that small land holders have to achieve economic, territorial, and legal rights. Most peasants do not manage their cattle for meat production, but as a way to accumulate capital. Uncertainty of land tenure, economic stability, and distrust of commercial banking requires that any savings be transformed to livestock. Herds are then moved to the high páramos where they are easier to control. Although peasants do utilize and grow many varieties of plants, they still need to maintain livestock against uncertainty, as well as a combination of savings account and retirement funds (A. Grajal in litt.). Thus, curbing livestock production as a means to conserve tapir populations will be difficult, because of the economic constraints of rural people.