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Latest GPS Technology Assists in Tapir Research
Lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) are an important game species and are locally threatened in many areas due to hunting and habitat destruction. Tapirs have
been classified as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species and are listed in CITES Appendix II. Very few field studies
have been conducted on tapirs in the Amazon, however, a good knowledge of
their ecology is important for conservation and management of tapir populations. For
example; tapir frequently use natural mineral licks to supplement their
diet. One single lick can be visited by over 30 individuals in the
course of a few weeks, some of them traveling 10 km or more to visit the lick. Local hunters take advantage of this behavior
and often use these licks to hunt tapirs. The impact of a few person hunting at licks can be much greater than if they were hunting on trails. This shows the importance including mineral licks in conservation planning.
In 2004 BRIT started
a field research project on tapirs in the Peruvian Amazon. We
successfully captured 11 tapirs and equipped them with GPS collars.
These GPS collars are based on a new technology with much improved
success rate under heavy rainforest canopy. The collars recovered so far recorded on average 30 positions per day, much more data than
has ever been collected on tapirs. These data give us detailed
information on tapirs movement patterns, home range size and habitat
use. The data also show us how far the animals walk to visit mineral
licks and how frequently they use these resources. Camera traps set up
at mineral licks show how frequently animals visit, what their
activity patterns are and how many individuals can visit a single lick.
We found that tapir have well defined home ranges ranging from 100 to 400 hectares in size. Tapirs were mainly nocturnal and areas used for foraging during the night differed from resting sites used during the day. Tapirs could walk over 10 km to visit a mineral lick. and visits were irregular at intervals of a few days up to 36 days.
Studying the diet of tapirs we identified 122 seed species dispersed by tapirs
at our study site. This is a much higher number than has ever been
found at any other site and shows the importance of tapirs as seed dispersers, helping maintain the diversity of tropical rainforests.