MOUNTAIN TAPIR FOREVER PROJECT

“A large animal needs a large area.
If you protect that area, you’re also protecting
thousands of other plants and animals.”
~ George Schaller

Our mission is to prevent the extinction of the mountain tapir in Colombia, through research, education and sustainable community development.

The Mountain Tapir

Tapirus pinchaque, its scientific name refers to its mysterious and elusive nature, like a ghost of the night.

The IUCN estimates a population of only 2500 individuals for the mountain tapir and declining. This species requires the most urgent contributions from tapir advocates around the world!

Landscape Ecology

We carry out research in the field of landscape ecology to identify the population nodes of the species and their dispersal corridors. With this information we define strategies for the management of key areas for its conservation.

We implement methods to estimate population parameters that serve as indicators of the fulfilment of the proposed management objectives to reverse the negative trends of the mountain tapir population in Colombia.

We promote community development around nature conservation through projects in organic agriculture, scientific tourism and conservation education.

We seek to establish mountain tapir community management areas in different distribution points. For this we select key areas where we detect the presence of the species and where there are human communities living nearby.

What has been done so far?

Although we have been working for seven years collecting data with camera traps, in 2023 we developed a pilot project to engage communities through community development, education and citizen science.

VOLUNTEER EXPEDITIONS

You can join our field expeditions to learn more about the distribution of the mountain tapir in Colombia, its threats and possible solutions to overcome them.

How can you support us?

The sustainability of our project depends on the donations we receive either from individuals or from organizations with grant programs for conservation projects.

People who wish to make financial contributions to our project can do so through our PayPal account (tpflatin@gmail.com), where they can also make monthly contributions and become our patrons. Our main goal is to develop a long-term conservation project for the mountain tapir, so we need to have a group of recurring donors who support us regularly.

Do you have questions, comments or criticisms about this initiative? Do you want to join our partners or volunteer? Leave us a message in our WhatsApp button on the right, we will get back to you soon!