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Baird's Tapir Project Quarterly Update July...August...September 2003 |
Primary investigator, Baird's Tapir Project
Please send comments and/or questions to:
conservation programs throughout Central and South America by
providing detailed, reliable data on the ecology of an undisturbed,
non-hunted population of Baird's tapirs.
"By understanding how an intact, healthy tapir population functions, we will be better
equipped to identify and correct irregularities in those populations
altered by human activities."
QUICK LINKS
Tapirs Currently being Monitored |  |
Tapirs Currently Being Monitored
ZONE 1
- Playa: Adult female first captured January 1998
- Sol: Adult male first captured February 1998
- Balsa: 2-yr old daughter of Playa first captured April 2002
- Cabo: 11-month-old offspring of Playa
- Sandalo: Juvenile male first captured April 2002
- Big Mama: Adult female first captured December 1994
- Thor: Adult male first captured April 2001
- Prima: 2-yr old daughter of Big Mama first captured April 2002
- Pinto: 3-year old son of Big Mama, first captured April 2001
- Nepal: 11-month old male of Big Mama
- Café: Adult male first captured January 1998.
- Leche: Adult female first captured January 1998.
- Crema: 14-month old offspring of Leche.
- No Name: 1-month old male offspring of Leche.
- Rodeo: Adult male first captured April 1997
- Rio: Adult male first captured January 1998
- Lefty: Adult male first captured July 1997
Note: Silbo (Mamasota's male offspring from 1997) is still hanging around the periphery of the study area. We pick up his signal about once a month as he ventures back close to his natal home range.
Reproduction
REPRODUCTION TO DATE:
17 offspring; 9 male; 5 female; 3 unknown
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THE "LECHE" STORY
In the fables of old, the Unicorn is a magical beast that cannot be captured. Until last month, I was ready to give this name to one of our adult female tapirs - Leche.Background: The success of the Baird's Tapir Project depends to a great extent on our ability to monitor the movements and behavior of our study animals over many years. This gives us the opportunity to record data on reproduction, survival, mortality and the animal's response to the variability of resources encountered in its environment. Since the radiocollars we use for tracking the tapirs in the field have a battery life of only 36 months, we must recapture each animal every 3 years to attach a new collar. For the most part, the tapirs in Sirena are very cooperative and the process of replacing a radiocollar is usually fairly straightforward.
Ideal re-capture: First, we use our telemetry equipment to home in on the collar's radio signal. The animals are normally quite calm and allow us to get close enough to throw a few bananas. The bananas are key because (1) it reassures the tapir that we mean no harm, and (2) it gives us time to assess the situation and prepare the capture equipment. After we determine that the tapir is calm enough to continue the procedure, we load a syringe dart with a mixture of anesthetics that was developed during the early years of the project. The drugs take effect quickly and the animal is usually asleep in less than 10 minutes. While the tapir is out we replace the radiocollar, take measurements, collect a skin sample for genetic analysis, and make a plaster imprint of the teeth to estimate age.
When all the work is done we inject the tapir with reversal drugs, which counteract the effects of the anesthetics and the animal is awake and fully recovered in 5 minutes. Most of the time the tapir resumes eating bananas while we pack up all our gear and take photos (we always keep a few bananas in reserve for when the tapir wakes up). From the time we find the animal to the last photo takes about an hour and a half, but the animal is under anesthesia for only 35 minutes or so. That is the way it is supposed to work and 95% of the time the capture goes like clockwork.
Two crucial components to the success of the procedure depend entirely on the tapir: (1) that he/she allows us to get close enough to throw some bananas, and (2) that he/she likes the bananas enough to permit us to shoot a relatively large dart into his/her rear end. For the last 3 years Leche has not cooperated on either of these two points. She is by far the most skittish and secretive tapir in the study. Plus, she has had an absolute aversion to bananas.
To increase our chances of success we conduct the re-captures during the day when the animals are not moving as much and we have plenty of light to work with. Leche, unfortunately, has the habit of locating her daytime resting spots in the middle of densely packed stands of achmea plants. Achmea is a species of wild pineapple that stands up to 6 feet tall and is covered with extremely sharp cat-claw shaped thorns. It is impossible to approach within 50 feet of Leche's position much less shoot a dart through the overlapping achmea leaves. Other tapirs also sleep in achmea patches, especially females that want to give a little extra protection to a young offspring. But these animals can never resist the taste of bananas and we can always use this "craving" to lure them out into the open to dart them and do our work. This strategy has never worked on Leche. She would eat those few bananas that landed near her and then walk away in the opposite direction of our bait trail.
Leche was first radiocollared in January of 1998, so she was due for a collar change in 2001. Our first attempt to re-capture her was in March 2000. We knew she was going to be difficult to find and get close to so we decided to try our luck a little early. Four times during that capture round we set out to dart Leche; four times we spent hours carefully sneaking through the underbrush, bleeding from cuts and slashes from the achmea plants; and four times we came back to camp empty-handed and frustrated.
Over the next 2 years this scenario was played out in different variations during 16 different attempts to capture Leche. On most occasions we would manage to get within 30 or 40 yards before we would hear the distinctive crashing sounds of a tapir barreling through the forest followed by the loud, resonate thud of tapir hooves pounding the ground. Tapirs make this sound only when they are thoroughly disturbed so we knew that any further chase was futile. We also tried sitting in tree platforms over areas where we thought Leche was foraging at night. Again, she always seemed to detect our presence and run away.
Although the battery in Leche's radiocollar stopped working in May 2001 we were still able to collect some data on her through direct sightings. We have an excellent trail system throughout the study area and are constantly walking through the forest day and night, including the 300 acres of Leche's home range. Every couple of weeks or so we would run across Leche and know that she was still alive and occupying the same territory. We would also see her with new offspring when they were old enough to join her during her nightly foraging trips. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to predict where or when we might encounter her and it is not practical to carry all the capture equipment with us every night.
Of course, avoiding capture in this way is not enough to justify changing Leche's name to Unicorn. This is just normal behavior by an animal that feels it is being threatened. It was on three specific occasions when it appeared she had some "guardian angel" protecting her that we started thinking that her first capture was pure luck and that she was never to be caught again.
The first "guardian angel" instance occurred in June of 2002 when the tree platform strategy actually did work. I built a makeshift hammock in a fig tree that several tapirs were visiting on a nightly basis and waited for Leche. On the 3rd night she showed up with an 8-month old offspring and her mate Café. They were all perfectly calm and I had my dart loaded and ready to go. I got off a perfect shot into her rear end and waited for the drugs to take effect. Ten minutes went by. Then 20 minutes. Then 30 minutes. Nothing. She kept eating and moving with no sign of getting drowsy. Apparently, the dart failed to inject the drugs. I was preparing to load another dart when she decided she had had enough figs and wandered off into the forest. Oh well, maybe next time.
In July 2003 I decided to try a different approach to catching Leche. Since I could not use her radio signal to find her (dead battery), I would radiocollar her latest offspring and use its radio signal to locate Leche while she was sleeping during the day. From earlier sightings I knew that Leche had a young tapir at her side that was approximately 10 months old and I had a good idea where they were foraging each night.
So I started to bait a nearby site with bananas, hoping that Leche had not taught her new offspring to be suspicious of bananas. Immediately, I saw tapir tracks covering the bait site and all the bananas gone. However, there was always only one set of tracks and they looked too big to be from a 10-month old offspring. I was fairly sure that no other tapirs were in this territory and I knew from our telemetry data that none of our other collared animals were visiting the site. So I had to assume that either Leche's offspring had unusually large feet, or that Leche was the one visiting the site.
Since the tree platforms had failed in the past, I set up a campsite 100 yards away and cleared a trail from there to a large fallen log on the edge of the bait site. I strung a trip wire around the whole bait site and connected it to a magnet placed on top of a new radiocollar (the magnet keeps the transmitter from emitting a signal). The idea being that when a tapir enters the site to eat bananas, the magnet is pulled off the collar and the radio starts sending out a signal. At dusk I would place 50 bananas inside the trip wire and return to my campsite where I would sit in my tent listening to the static on the radio, waiting for the signal.
The first three nights I got rained out (July is one of the rainiest months of the year). At 8 o'clock on the fourth night, however, the signal started to come in loud and clear. I snuck down the trail and took position behind the fallen log. On the other side of the log, 20 feet away, I could hear the distinctive sound of a tapir woofing down the bananas. I raised my gun and flashlight up at the same time and, sure enough, there was Leche in the middle of the bait site facing right at me. For three or four minutes I watched her consume almost all the bananas. Unfortunately, I never had a clear shot of her rear end. She was always facing towards me or was half concealed in the surrounding brush. Eventually, she picked up my scent, became slightly nervous and slowly moved out of the bait site. If she had only been facing the other way when I first approached it would have been an excellent opportunity to dart her, but her luck continued to keep her protected. However, I did not go home as frustrated as usual. Leche was once again eating bananas and when she left the site she did not run and stomp her feet like so many times before; I was fairly certain she would be back again.
The very next night Leche was back. Again, I snuck up behind the fallen log and raised my dart gun and flashlight. This time, however, she was facing to the side and I had a clear view of her left flank. She was perfectly calm and enjoying the bananas and I immediately took the shot, giving her no time to pick up my scent. When the dart was two feet from hitting her it suddenly bounced back as if it had hit a force field. For night captures I always tie a lightweight fishing line to the dart to help me follow the animals if they should leave the bait site before the drugs take full effect. I have used this method many times and never had a problem. This time, however, the string got entangled on one very thin branch that I had failed to clear out of the way and that I could not see in the beam of my flashlight. Although my dart pistol is air operated, it still made enough noise to bring Leche's head up and raise her suspicions. Once again, she quietly left the bait site and I went home shaking my head. Guardian Angel?
The next two nights were rained out, but Leche was back again on the third night. I had come back earlier in the day and cleaned out every branch and stick that could possibly interfere with my approach to the fallen log and with the flight of the dart and fishing line. My receiver went from static to a clear signal at 9:30 pm as Leche crossed the trip wire. I only had to wait a few seconds to get a clear shot at her rear end and this time the dart hit with a satisfying thud. And since I was so close to her at the time I could also here the telltale "pop" as the small cartridge inside the dart exploded and injected the drugs. So far, so good.
Leche didn't seem to mind the impact of the dart at all and continued eating bananas. After four minutes she had had her fill and started to wander away from the bait site, but not before I had seen her stumble slightly - a sure sign that the drugs were starting to work. The fishing line spooled out more than 75 yards before eventually stopping after another four minutes. I waited another 7 minutes to let the drugs take full effect before I began following it through the brush. At the end of the fishing line, after more than three years of frustration, I found Leche sound asleep. I can tell you this - that night I set a record in changing an old radiocollar for a new one. All the data collected after that, measurements, teeth impressions, etc, was a bonus for me. All I knew was that I could once again start collecting telemetry data on Leche. Happy days!!!!!
 Leche with her new collar. Still waking up from anesthesia. |
The question I had after Leche was awake and walking away was: what happened to the 10-month old offspring she should have had traveling with her? I had still been seeing the small tracks in the area so I knew it was still alive and usually at that age they are traveling night and day with their mother. So the next morning I set out to find Leche during the day and hopefully get a glimpse of her offspring. It took me 3 days to finally get within sighting distance of her in the forest. She did, in fact, have an offspring by her side. But, it was not a big, healthy, 10-moth old, but a small, perfect male baby that was perhaps 3-weeks old. Since tapirs have a gestation period of 13 months I had obviously underestimated the age of Leche's previous offspring. I will continue to look for this older offspring to place a collar and will keep you updated on the development of the younger one. |
MALAY TAPIR CONSERVATION WORKSHOP
In August of this year I traveled to the Krau Wildlife Reserve in Malaysia to participate in the Malay Tapir Conservation Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to consolidate information about the status of the Malay tapir in its range countries and prioritize recommendations and strategies to ensure the continued survival of the species.The workshop brought together 35 dedicated biologists, conservationists, veterinarians and park personnel from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Representatives from the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group directed the workshop using the Population and Habitat Viability Analysis format. This format provides a very orderly method with which to organize a wide range of scattered information and ultimately formulate concrete management strategies.
Recommendations coming from all the action planning sessions were put together and prioritized, and the final outcome was a very detailed and updated action plan, listing and prioritizing strategies and actions for the conservation of Malay tapirs. The first draft of the action plan is being reviewed and a final version of the document will be distributed to all interested parties in Southeast Asia. The document will also be incorporated as the Malay Tapir Chapter of the next version of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (1997).
ONGOING PROJECTS
Basic Ecology| Radiotelemetry is still the primary method for collecting data on movement patterns of our tapirs. The information is used to evaluate parameters such as activity patterns, home range size and location, habitat use, population density, and the distribution pattern of the population. Currently we are tracking 16 tapirs in the study area. 17 if we include Silbo. | |
"Influence of Large Herbivores on Understory Vegetation Structure and Diversity."This study, which is designed to investigate the role large herbivores play in maintaining and shaping the plant communities of Neotropical forests, has expanded greatly in the last couple of months. The study is now a coordinated initiative that will be conducted simultaneously in four countries of Latin America: (1) Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica - Charles Foerster, (2) Los Nevados National Park in Colombia - Diego Lizcano (3) El Rey National Park in Argentina - Silvia Chalukian (4) Morro do Diabo State Park in Brazil - Patricia Medici |  |
NEW EXHIBIT FOR TAPIRS AT THE SUMMIT ZOO
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
| I also spent a couple of weeks in Panama City in September assisting with the design and construction of a new tapir exhibit at the Summit Zoo. This project is a collaborative effort between the Houston Zoo and the Panama City Municipality. Rick Barongi, director of the Houston Zoo, has had a long history of conservation work with tapirs in Panama and began planning early this year to help improve the housing situation of tapirs in Panama's National Zoo. In March, I joined Rick Barongi, Jessie Cavazos and Alberto Mendozo from the Houston Zoo on an exploratory visit to Panama City and the zoo. Also along for the trip was Jim Brighton, a world famous architect specializing in zoo exhibits. The result of this trip was an ambitious architectural plan for two large exhibits and six holding pens (sketch on right). |  |
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Between May and August members of the Houston Zoo and Summit Zoo worked hard to get started on this project. By October much of the fencing was up around the eastern exhibit and the two eastern holding pens were finished. Both ponds have been dug and await final shaping and concrete. On October 17, we moved the first tapir from his old holding pen into his new one. Below is a photo of the very first visitors to see "Dantiquiri" enjoying his new surroundings. I will return to Panama with the Jessie Cavazos in November and January to help with the final touches on the exhibit pool and the viewing decks. If all goes as planned, an opening ceremony will take place during the 2nd International Tapir Symposium in January to dedicate the finishing of the eastern exhibit and to introduce at least a couple of tapirs into their new home. |  |