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Captures
To capture tapirs we built elevated blinds with room for two
people at two mineral licks. The capture team usually arrives at the licks around
dawn and spends the whole night in the blind waiting for tapirs. If a tapir
enters the lick, it is shoot it with a tranquilizer dart fired from a CO2-powered
riffle. The time it takes for the animal to go to sleep varies between
individuals and ranges from 5 to 15 minutes. Some animals go down at the same
spot they were darted, others walk up to 100 m into the forest and have to be tracked down.
Once a tapir is darted the rest of the team,
waiting at a close by base camp, is called in by radio. The whole capture team
usually consists of four to six people, including a veterinarian. After the
veterinarian completes an initial check of the animal's condition, we first fit
the collar to the tapir's neck. During this time, the veterinarian collects
ecto-parasites, takes hair and tissue samples for DNA analysis, and monitors
both heart and breathing rate.
After the collar has been fitted, we take body
measurements and collect blood samples for a health study.When all the work is completed the animal is given a drug to
reverse the effects of the anesthesia. Recovery is usually fast and most tapirs
walk away after only 5 minutes.