Supporting Brazilian Giant Anteaters
The giant anteater is a charismatic but vulnerable species from South and Central America. Despite its wide range, little was known about the health and behaviours of the animal in the wild. Extensive research shows that wildlife vehicle collisions are a key threat to giant anteaters and many other wild species. Chester Zoo supports the Wild Animal Conservation Institute (ICAS), a Brazilian NGO that studies the species’ current situation, threats, and conservation needs.
Anteaters & Highways
ICAS’ work on giant anteaters focusses on the threat of highways and wildlife vehicle collisions (WVCs) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. WVCs have emerged as one of the greatest threats to Giant Anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), and the highways themselves act as physical barriers to dispersal, fragmenting populations and further endangering the stability of a species that is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.
From 2017 to 2020, the ICAS team carried out extensive highway surveys, studying roadkill from wildlife vehicle collisions across a total 85,000km of highway in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. A staggering 12,400 wild animals affected by collisions with vehicles were recorded, 761 of which were dead giant anteaters.
Night-time Risks
This wildlife issue is a human issue too. Anteaters, and other large animals, such as tapir, are big enough to significantly damage a vehicle and cause potentially fatal accidents.
Between 80%-90% of incidents occurred during the twilight or night hours, so nocturnal driving has been identified as a key risk. For the ICAS team surveying the highways, roadkill scenes are a common occurrence – anteaters are one of the species most affected by vehicle collisions.
Funds from Chester Zoo support the monitoring of juvenile anteaters at the point when they leave their mother and become independent. ICAS’ researchers follow juvenile anteaters as they disperse, learning about how far they travel, the choice of route that they take and where they end up settling.
The insights from this feeds into better protections for wild populations by informing decisions about land-use planning and habitat management.
Caring for Orphans
Road traffic collisions and other dangers, such as conflicts between domesticated dogs and giant anteaters, sometimes result in juvenile anteaters being orphaned. Chester Zoo’s funding also contributes to ICAS work rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing orphaned anteaters.
Finally, Chester Zoo supports the salary of ICAS’ Human Wildlife Coexistence Coordinator, Dr Mariana Catapani. Mariana leads on all of ICAS’ initiatives that are focussed on understanding the human dimensions of anteater conservation and developing innovative strategies to tackle these issues.
With giant anteaters acting as a flagship species, Mari’s work seeks to engage with authorities, road users (particularly truck drivers), truck companies, highway workers and the wider society to reduce these collisions.
The Road Ahead
Outreach is an important component of ICAS’ work; they use a variety of approaches to transmit their message to different audiences, from evidence-based scientific and technical communication to education workshops and storytelling.
Chester Zoo’s Conservation Education and Engagement team have provided technical support to ICAS in the development of their Education and Communication strategy.
Since the start of the Anteaters and Highways project, ICAS have helped train more than 1,500 highway workers to respond more effectively to collisions and deal with injured animals. The project has also supported a scientifically-informed redesign of road warning signs, mapped out hotspots for WVCs, and published a roadkill mitigation manual and guidelines that have now been adopted by the Ministry of Environment, and São Paulo and Goiás state governments.
The impact of these and related measures will be monitored in the coming years, and if they prove effective, the plan is to extend them to other parts of the country in partnership with local authorities.
Specialists
Find out more about the conservation experts who work on this project.
Regional Field Programme Manager - Latin America
Senior Community Participation & Engagement Manager
Lead Conservation Scientist: Social Science
Assistant Team Manager - Visitor Engagement