Population Ecology
We estimate population parameters as indicators of mountain tapir population status over time.
From the field of population ecology, our initiative seeks to protect a population of mountain tapirs that will serve as a genetic reservoir of the species in case it becomes extinct in other areas of its distribution. To achieve this, we are developing a community-based tapir management strategy within two watersheds that are part of the Guácharos-Purace regional park, which connects the central and eastern Andean branches of Colombia.
We are in the process of getting to know in detail the population using our study area. So far we have found that during a period of one year more than twenty individuals of the species have visited the camera traps that we have set up in one of the two basins that comprise our mountain tapir community management area (MTCMA).
We are cataloguing every individual recorded in the study area in order to have a census of the species. We are also monitoring new births, emigration and immigration. We also study behavioural patterns and evaluate the health status of the specimens that are recorded by our camera traps.