STUDYING and conserving the largest land animal in South America—one that, oddly, many
people have never even heard of—has been Patrícia Medici’s life’s work. Medici is a scientist and advocate for the tapir—an animal related to rhinos and horses, though it is often incorrectly thought to be quite a few other things a type of pig because of its shape, an anteater because of its elongated nose, or even a hippo due to its size.
“Tapirs are not well-known or appreciated for many reasons,” explains Medici. “It doesn’t help that the Portuguese word for tapir is anta, which can be used to mean ‘idiot’ kind of how ‘jackass’ can be both an animal and a derogatory statement in the English language. But studying tapirs in my native country of Brazil is so important because without tapirs, everything in the forest changes.”
Tapirs are large-scale seed dispersers. Considering that a tapir can consume up to eighty-five pounds of fruits, berries, and other vegetation in one day, that’s a lot of potential forest regeneration after seeds are “replanted” in its droppings. In fact, one of Medici’s early and still ongoing projects in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest region has involved fencing large tracts of forest to prevent tapirs from coming in. The tapirs’ absence from these areas soon demonstrates the impact of their loss on forest structure and diversity.
Medici’s work in the Atlantic forests of Morro do Diabo State Park also resulted in the capture of thirty-five wild lowland tapirs, twenty-five of which were radio-collared and monitored in the long term. Further, hundreds of biological samples from tapirs were collected and analyzed for genetics and health studies. This was the longest tapir study conducted in Brazil at the time, and it yielded significant amounts of previously unknown biological and ecological information. This data is currently being used to develop recommendations for the conservation of lowland tapirs in the Atlantic Forest biome.
All four species of tapir—three in Latin America and one in Asia are listed by the IUCN as either Vulnerable or Endangered. Hunting, habitat fragmentation, road kills, and human
encroachment into protected areas are prime threats to the tapir’s future existence. Medici wants to make sure that the pendulum swings back in their favor, and to do this she knows it takes teamwork. In 2000, Medici became the chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Tapir Specialist Group working to save these large, endangered herbivores. Since then, the group has grown to more than 150 committed field researchers, zoo professionals, veterinarians, government agency representatives, conservationists, and students from twenty-seven countries worldwide all focused on the survival of the four species of tapirs.
“When I first became interested in tapirs and began working in the field, it was an uphill climb to find support,” says Medici. “But I soon realized the people who wanted to help were out there; we just needed to get everyone in contact and working together.” That’s also the reason Medici and a group of other young biologists, led by Cláudio and Suzana Padua, founded the Brazilian NGO IPÊ Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research) in 1991 to bring people together who are interested in conserving Brazil’s biodiversity. “Everyone can help. You don’t need to be a scientist,” says Medici
Working on solutions to enable tapirs and humans to coexist is another aspect of Medici’s work. Through her radio-collaring and tracking research, she has discovered where this large herbivore travels both inside protected parks and beyond. “Protected areas alone are not large enough to sustain viable populations of tapirs,” she warns. “We need both the parks and forest fragments. And corridors through the land connecting them. And we need the people settled in these areas to be involved in protecting tapirs and other wildlife.”
IPÊ researchers found that by initiating agroforestry projects with landless families living in tapir and jaguar territory, they could provide both habitat restoration for the wildlife and economic alternatives and income for area residents. The locals are now planting tree species that offer both good cover for wildlife and an eventual harvest for themselves.
“The response has been very enthusiastic!” Medici notes. “If people are seeing benefits from their environment, they will be more likely to care for it.”
“Through our efforts we have discovered some really interesting things about tapirs: they are not strictly solitary, they are regularly killed and eaten by jaguars and cougars, and they travel a lot within the landscape.” But perhaps most important, Medici has found that people who once did not care at all about tapirs will appreciate them if shown why they are such an important and unique forest species.
In 2008, Medici launched the Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative in Brazil and expanded her tapir conservation efforts to the Brazilian Pantanal. She plans to establish tapir conservation programs in the corrido and the Amazon Rainforest as well. “By the time I retire from my tapir work, I would like the word anta to change in meaning from ‘idiot’ to something much more appropriate, like ‘unique’ or ‘important,’” she says. “That would be a great accomplishment, and perhaps give tapirs some of the respect they deserve.”
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