Tracking Tapirs in Tanguro
The lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is known as an ‘ecological engineer’, playing a key role in the habitats where it lives in South America. With a prehensile nose and a crest running from its ears to its shoulders, this large herbivore is a distinctive presence in several diverse habitats. But the wild places where lowland tapirs live are increasingly being replaced by agricultural landscapes.
Chester Zoo supports the Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative in their efforts to assess the impact of soy farming on tapirs, with a view to protecting this species and establishing guidelines for wildlife-friendly soy production.
Ecological Engineers
Globally, the lowland tapir is listed as Vulnerable, while in Brazil some of its local populations are categorised as endangered, with one population in the Caatinga considered regionally extinct. Brazil is an important stronghold for this amazing animal, which plays a key role in the health of the ecosystems it inhabits. Tapirs act as ‘ecological engineers’, shaping their biome and supporting other species by dispersing seeds, making paths and browsing vegetation.
Many parts of the lowland tapir’s range have been converted into farmland, and the species is contending with reduced shelter and feeding opportunities, while being exposed to ever-greater concentrations of artificial fertilisers and pesticides. The future of tapirs as a species is linked to the protection of their habitats, making tapir-focused conservation efforts part of a larger, holistic concern.
A Focus on Tanguro Farm
The Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative (LTCI), founded in 1996 and led by tapir conservation expert Dr Patrícia Medici, is the largest tapir research and conservation programme in the world. Chester Zoo funds one of its projects, implemented in partnership with the Amazonian Environmental Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia), which focuses on Tanguro Farm. This is a 1,030 km² soybean, corn and cotton property owned by AMAGGI, one of Brazil’s largest soy producers. About 400km² of this area is given over to soy production, while much of the remaining land is closed-canopy evergreen forest, including legally protected reserves. Tanguro’s tapir population live at the intersection between large scale agriculture and uncultivated Amazonian forest.
LTCI are monitoring the movements and behaviour of tapirs at Tanguro and evaluating their health. This involves capturing, GPS collaring, releasing and tracking tapirs – to date they have captured over 30 tapirs in this location, the majority of which have been collared. Samples, such as hair, blood and urine are taken to study the tapirs’ health and to check for the presence of pesticides, while camera traps offer an insight into the way in which tapirs move between areas of habitat and farmland. This data helps us better understand how they use the landscape.
Looking to the Future
This research will be used to assess the long-term viability of this population of tapirs, to assess the impacts of current production practices, and to inform conservation strategies for Tanguro’s tapirs.
More broadly, at Chester Zoo, we will be using data from this project to inform our work on Deforestation-Free Commodities, through which we support producers of crops such as soy and palm oil to implement sustainable, biodiversity-friendly production standards. We simultaneously lobby for legislation to support these measures and help empower people to make informed choices about the products they buy.
To find out more about our fight to save rainforests by supporting sustainable palm oil use, please click the following button:
Specialists
Find out more about the conservation experts working on this project.
Policy Lead Deforestation-Free Commodities and Regenerative Agriculture at Chester Zoo