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Baird's Tapir Project
Quarterly Update
January...February...March 2005
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Prepared by Charles Foerster
Primary investigator, Baird's Tapir Project
Please send comments and/or questions to:
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The primary goal of the Baird's Tapir Project is to enhance tapir 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." |
Tapirs Currently Being Monitored
ZONE 1- Playa: Adult female first captured January 1998
- Sol: Adult male first captured February 1998
- Palma: 6-month old daughter of Playa
- Cabo: 2 year-old offspring of Playa
- Prima: 4˝ year-old female offspring of Big Mama.
ZONE 2- Big Mama: Adult female first captured December 1994
- Thor: Adult male first captured April 2001
- Noel: 3 month-old male offspring of Big Mama
- Nepal: 2 year-old male of Big Mama
- Sirena: 13 month old female offspring of Big Mama
ZONE 3- Café: Adult male first captured January 1998.
- Leche: Adult female first captured January 1998.
- Orion: 18-month old male offspring of Leche.
- Ursa(o): 4 month-old offspring of Leche.
ZONE 4- Rodeo: Adult male first captured April 1997
ZONE 2,3,4 &5- Silbo: 7-year old male offspring of Big Mama.
- Dedo: 6-year old male offspring of Big Mama.
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Reproduction |
Reproduction to Date: 21 offspring; 10 male; 8 female; 3 unknown
| | Offspring | Sex |
Birth date | Mother | | | Offspring |
Sex | Birth date | Mother |
| Nome | M | 11/94 | Big Mama | | | Balsa | F | 07/01 |
Playa | | Ceibo | M | 08/97 | Roberta | | | Max |
M | 10/01 | Maxine | | Silbo | M | 08/97 | Big Mama |
| | Crema | uk | 08/02 | Leche | | Condensada |
F | 01/98 | Leche | | | Nepal | M | 10/02 |
Big Mama | | Dedo | M | 12/98 | Big Mama |
| | Cabo | M | 10/02 | Playa | | Arena |
F | 04/99 | Playa | | | Orion | M | 09/03 |
Leche | | Evaporada | F | 09/99 | Leche |
| | Sirena | F | 11/03 | Big Mama | | Maxina |
uk | 06/00 | Maxine | | | Palma | F | 09/04 |
Playa | | Pinto | M | 03/00 | Big Mama | | |
Ursa(o) | uk | 11/04 | Leche | | Amapola | uk |
06/01 | Leche | | | Noel | F | 12/04 | Big Mama | | Prima | F | 07/01 | Big Mama | |
THREE NEW BABIES BORN IN LATE 2004 |
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Playa, Leche and Big Mama all gave birth in the second half of 2004. Palma, a female, was born to Playa in September and is doing very well. She will be ready for her 1st radiocollar in August of 2005. Leche's newest offspring appeared in November 2004. Leche is one of the most skittish tapir in the project and so far we have only managed to catch fleeting glimpses of the baby and have not yet determined its sex. And, of course, Big Mama, our tapir baby-making machine, gave birth again - this time to another male. He was born on either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, so we named him Noel.
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| | Noel - 2 weeks old |
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TWO JUVENILES FITTED WITH FIRST RADIOCOLLARS |
| Sirena |
Sirena, Big Mama's offspring from last year was fitted with her first radiocollar on February 11th of this year. She was born in November of 2003 and was already independent of her mother by the time we caught up with her to attach her collar. She will most likely remain within her mother's territory for the next 2 to 3 years, gaining the experience and size she will need to survive when she leaves her home to establish her own territory and raise her own family. |
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Orion, Leche's offspring of June 2003 was captured on February 6th and fitted with a radiocollar. Since Orion was also moving independently of his mother at this time, I used bananas to attract him to a capture site under a grove of Guacimo trees. Fruits from the trees were already covering the forest floor and bringing the tapirs to the area every night. I used the bananas as an added incentive and to ensure that Orion passed in front of my hideaway. |
| Orion |
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CAPTURES TO REPLACE OR LOOSEN RADIOCOLLARS |
| Nepal |
Playa |
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The batteries in the radiocollars I use for the tapirs are supposed to last for 3 years. Since many of the tapirs I am monitoring have been part of the project for much longer than that, their radiocollars must be replaced with new ones before their batteries run out. In addition, radiocollars fitted on young juveniles must be loosened every 6 months or so because of the rapid growth rate of the animals at this age. To do this, the tapirs must be anesthetized. Fortunately, working with radiocollared tapirs is much easier than trying to capture new animals. While the collars are still working I can simply use my telemetry equipment to find the tapirs during the day while they are resting.
This year I loosened the radiocollar on Nepal and replaced the collars on both Silbo and Playa. Nepal was first collared in October 2003 and had his collar loosened in August last year. He will be ready for a new collar next year.
For a more detailed description of the immobilization procedure see Immobilization Method and read "The Leche Story" for a description of a recapture at 3rd Quarter Update 2003.
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EXCLOSURE PROJECT CONTINUES |
 | Many hours were spent working with plants in February and March this year. Last year I built fences around 16 plots throughout the forest as part of a project to study the influence tapirs have on the understory plant community. For the next several years I will be comparing the growth rates of plants inside the exclosures (where tapirs cannot forage) with plants outside the fencing (where tapirs are free to feed).
Read more about this study in "Influence of Large Herbivores on Understory Vegetation Structure and Diversity."
4th Quarter Update 2002
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