SPECIES
SURVIVAL
COMMISSION
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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 the Lowland Tapir
(Tapirus terrestris)
Continued from Previous Page
The lowland tapir has been categorized as Lower Risk near threatened (LR - nt)
according to the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals (IUCN 1996).
Lowland tapir are the largest terrestrial mammals native to Amazonia with adults
weighing between 150-250kg. Lowland tapir are also-ancient animals whose ancestors date
back to the Eocene. The increasing pressure from humans has made this prehistoric mammal
vulnerable to extinction, and it is presently listed on CITES Appendix 1.
The large size of lowland tapir makes them a prized prey item for native and rural
people living in South America (Pierret and Dourojeanni 1967, Redford and Robinson 1987),
and tapir meat is used for subsistence food and for sale in city markets. In the Amazon,
Cerrado, and South Atlantic forest populations of lowland tapir are also under threat from
the destruction of palm-rich forests which constitute one of their major food sources
(Bodmer 1990, Fragoso 1994). Lowland tapir play an important role in the maintenance of
these economically important forests as seed dispensers.
Despite their importance to these forests, tapirs and palm trees are being killed by
development projects and rural inhabitants to gain short-term economic benefits.
In this section we examine the status of lowland tapir populations by presenting
information on the current level of exploitation from hunting, the economic importance of
tapir meat for rural people, the vulnerability of lowland tapir to overhunting, the
importance of palm fruit in tapir diets, and the importance tapirs play in maintaining
forest habitats. Using this information we make recommendations for the conservation of
lowland tapir.
Importance of lowland tapir to local people throughout
tropical South America
The value of tapir meat for both subsistence and monetary income is probably the major
factor contributing to overhunting of lowland tapir. Tapir make up one of the most
important game mammals for local people in tropical South America (Table 5.2).
Tapirs are not the most commonly hunted game mammal in terms of individuals harvested,
but since tapir are the largest native terrestrial mammal, biomass extracted for meat from
tapir often makes them one of the most important. For example, in 14 studies that examined
mammalian game harvests throughout South America, lowland tapir accounted for an average
of only 2.5% of the game mammals harvested in terms of the number of individuals. In
contrast, lowland tapir accounted for an average of 22.3% of the mammalian game meat
harvested (Fig. 5.3). Likewise, lowland tapir averaged ninth in terms of individuals
harvested, but in terms of game meat harvested lowland tapir had an average rank of just
over two.
Figure 5.3. This figure depicts the importance
of lowland tapir harvest considering biomass.
Tapir meat is often sold in city markets throughout South America. For example, hunters
in the Tahuayo study site in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon obtain economic benefits
from market sales of meat from tapir, peccaries, deer, paca, and capybara in city markets
of Iquitos (Bodmer et al. 1990). Hunters kill these mammals for their market
value, and only occasionally consume parts of these species. Commercial sale of meat from
mammals during a one year period in Tahuayo earned US$17,270 for all hunters combined.
Lowland tapir meat constituted 17.6%, of this income and 27.8% of the mammalian biomass
extracted for commercial sale. Therefore, if hunting of lowland tapir was stopped in this
500km2 area hunters would incur an economic cost of approximately US$3040 per
year. It is difficult to enforce hunting laws in remote areas when there is a direct
economic benefit; however, if these harvest regimes continue, local extinction of tapir is
certain.
Lowland 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
CONTACTS
Chair: Patrícia Medici
Deputy Chair: Sheryl Todd
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