In the high Andean Mountains of north western South America, there is a creature that persists inside the misty forest, regardless of the human pressures that had changed its landscape over the centuries: the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)

Mountain tapir ancestors arrived into South America, once the connection with North America was established during the Pliocene epoch (around 3 MYA).  They developed adaptations for a living in the cold weather of the Andean mountains. Today mountain tapirs are facing what the scientists had realized is the sixth mass extinction in the history of life on earth.

Habitat degradation and hunting had impacted mountain tapir populations, dramatically reducing its population numbers to a level that had made them to be considered in danger of extinction.

Today, we ignore the reality of tapir populations regardless the work of some organizations and researchers over the last decades.

The present study represents the more recent effort to evaluate the population status of the mountain tapir in Colombia. It is an important step toward its conservation using modern tools that will allow us to gather and analyze key field data  for the management and conservation of this tapir in the long term.

The goals of the project are mapping and delimiting remaining mountain tapir habitat and evaluating the effects of different threats on tapirs in the Colombian Andes.

Our methods are based on the use of camera traps to develop occupancy models that allow us to  predict and corroborate the current distribution of the species in Colombia.

Our first approach to assess the current situation of the mountain tapir in Colombia took place at Los Nevados region, in the central Andes. We installed thirty camera traps that  help us to collect our first photographs, depicting not only tapirs but many other mammal species like pumas, jaguaroundis and tayras, that conform the mammal community of the high Andean forest.

With all this information we are going to have the opportunity to begin to analyze the current situation of the especies in the north limits of its distribution.

Our next expedition is planned to take place in Chingaza National Park, near Bogotá, the capital of the country.

FROM THE FIELD

TEAM