Mountain tapir
| Mountain tapir | ||||||||||||
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Mountain tapir ( Tapirus pinchaque ) |
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| Tapirus pinchaque | ||||||||||||
| ( Roulin , 1829) |
The mountain tapir ( Tapirus pinchaque ), also called Andentapir or wool tapir , is a mammal from the monotypical family of tapirs (Tapiridae). He is the second smallest of today's tapir representatives and lives in the high Andes between 2000 and 4500 m altitude. Its distribution area is limited to Colombia and Ecuador . The solitary animal feeds on vegetable food. The stock is endangered due to the destruction of the habitats.
anatomy
Habitus
The mountain tapir is the second smallest type of tapir, males reach a head-trunk length of around 180 cm and a shoulder height of 90 cm, females are slightly larger and can be up to 200 cm long and over 90 cm high. The weight varies between 130 and 180 kg, very heavy animals, both males and females can weigh up to 260 kg. On average, however, the females are 25 to 100 kg heavier than the males, as is the case with the lowland tapir ( Tapirus terrestris ). Like all tapirs, the mountain tapir has a clumsy body with slim but strong legs. The front feet end in four and the hind feet in three toes, the tail is only a short stub. The face is characterized by the short trunk, as with all tapirs. The most striking difference to the other tapirs is that the skin is covered by a much more woolly fur, which offers protection against the cold and UV radiation of the high mountains. There are particularly long hairs on the stomach and chest, while those on the back and sides are significantly shorter. In terms of fur, the mountain tapir is similar to the other two American tapir species, the color is typically dark brown to black on the back, and a somewhat lighter tint on the sides and belly. The white lips and the white tips of the ears are also striking. Often, however, hairless patches of skin appear on the trunk, which are caused by the way of life of the mountain tapir by rubbing against rocks or sliding down scree slopes.
Skull and dentition features
The skull of the lowland tapir reaches a length of 35 to 38 cm and is elongated and flat. In contrast to its closest relative, the lowland tapir, the crest is rather low and short, which also makes the head of the mountain tapir appear significantly flatter at the forehead line. The crest consists of two fused bones, each of which outgrows the inner edge of the parietal bones . The occiput is short and rectangular in shape. As with all tapirs, the nasal bone is significantly reduced and lies behind the median jawbone . The nasal bone was reduced by the formation of the fleshy trunk.
The lower jaw is up to 30 cm long, but has a relatively low lower jaw body. The teeth of an adult animal is hardly reduced and has the following dental formula: . As is usual with the Tapirus genus , each of the outer third incisors has an elongated and pointed cone shape, while all the others in both the upper and lower jaw are significantly smaller. In contrast, the canine in the lower jaw is also significantly larger, but reduced in the upper jaw. There is a small diastema between the incisors and the canine, and a noticeably larger diastema from the canine to the rear teeth . The molars are very low-crowned and have little cement . The premolars resemble the molars , i.e. they are molarized. The latter have a bilophodontic structure, which is characterized by two transverse enamel ridges with small cusps at the ends. The tooth enamel cusps identify the teeth as bunodont .
Sensory performances and vocalizations
Like all tapirs, the mountain tapir has a good hearing and a good sense of smell . The sense of sight is less well developed, but obviously serves as an important means of communication at close range, as the animals react to rapid ear movements of other conspecifics, whereby this effect is intensified by the white edges and tips of the ears. A high-pitched whistle is considered to be contact, while a high-pitched squeak is emitted in the event of danger, both for yourself and for fellow species. Aggressive animals can be recognized by a grumbling sound.
distribution and habitat
The range of the mountain tapir is the smallest of all today's tapir species and is limited to the Andean regions of Colombia , Ecuador and northern Peru , the once small population in Venezuela is most likely extinct. In the Andes he inhabits zones with a temperate climate. Its habitat are mountain and cloud forests, which extend on the western and eastern flanks of the high mountain range. The mountain tapir also hikes from the plateaus at 2000 m to the snow line at 4500 m above sea level. As a result, tree-free bush and steppe landscapes such as the chaparral and the páramo also belong to the typical distribution area of the mountain tapir. The tapir species occurs very rarely in regions below 2000 m, the deepest mountain regions in which it has been sighted are between 1400 and 1500 m. In Colombia there are two populations that are now probably separate, comprising the western and the eastern Cordillera on the one hand.
The mountain tapir's population density in its inhabited habitat is relatively low. For Ecuador and Colombia, for example, only one tapir per 4 to 5 square kilometers is sometimes given, which means that the mountain tapir has the thinnest population density of all tapir species. Remarkably, the tapir rarely inhabits national parks. Of the nearly two dozen Andean national parks in Colombia that are in the range of the tapir, it occurs relatively regularly in only seven.
Way of life
Territorial behavior
Like all tapirs, the mountain tapir is a nocturnal loner who often retreats into the thicket during the day, but it can also be partially active in daylight. He's an excellent climber, but he's also very good at swimming and diving. He also often wallows in the mud. Tapir groups only form during the rutting season or include mother animals with calves. Male animals maintain territories of 2.5 to 3.5 km² in size, those of the females are sometimes up to 8 km² in size, but the extent of the territories changes over the year. These often extend over the various vegetation zones in the high mountains and often contain several bathing, eating and sleeping places as well as latrines . Above all, the sleeping places are in areas with very high and dense vegetation . The animals often stay at higher altitudes during the dry season and come down into the forests during the rainy season .
The boundaries of the territories and the paths often followed are marked with urine and faeces in both male and female animals . Since the same places are often used for this, high piles of dung sometimes form, which is also one of the most important forms of intra-species communication . The urine is sprayed flat and up to four meters wide. Such markings are often accompanied by reflex-like scraping movements of the hind legs.
nutrition
The mountain tapir is herbivorous and, due to its low-crowned molar teeth and the characteristic molten humps on the chewing surface, is adapted to soft vegetable foods such as leaves , twigs , fruits and other parts of plants. More than 200 types of plants are known that are consumed by the mountain tapir. These include daisy and rose plants as well as legumes . In addition, harder grasses such as sour and sweet grasses are not spurned , especially in the dry season . The plant genus Gunnera is also of great importance , as the tapir species not only eats leaves and stems , but also seeks protection under this large-leaved plant. Since the mountain tapir also eats fruits and berries , it contributes to the spread of numerous plant species, as has been proven in some palm trees . Salt licks and open mineral springs are also important for the well-being of the animals, which not only balance the mineral balance, but are also important for neutralizing individual plant toxins.
Reproduction
Male and female representatives of the mountain tapir are sexually mature at around two years of age. The female enters the rut every 30 days on average. During this time, the males also appear, courting the females by sniffing their rear ends, handing out gentle bites in a playful way and making numerous grunts and squeaks. The mating begins with the seating of the male animal on the female.
After a gestation period of around 13 months (an average of 393 days), the female usually gives birth to a single young. This is around 28 to 30 cm high and weighs between 4 and 6 kg. Characteristic is the lighter basic color that occurs in all tapir calves, which is interrupted by numerous light, horizontal lines and spots. The spot pattern serves as camouflage and disappears over the course of the second half of life. The slow weaning begins at three months and is completed after around a year, which means that the young animal is largely independent. At this point it is almost 100 kg. In total, the young animal stays with the mother for up to 18 months, and the time until the next fertilization is roughly the same . The maximum age of a mountain tapir is given as almost 28 years.
Interactions with other animal species
The mountain tapir is an important ecological component in the Neotropic . By laying out paths, it creates corridors that are also used by other animal species. Overall, the mountain tapir is a very shy animal that often retreats into the water when threatened. The only natural enemies of the mountain tapir are the puma and the spectacled bear , which can also prey on adult animals. Evidence is rare, however, and is usually provided via hair remnants of the mountain tapir in the feces of the predators or via animals with healed bite wounds. For the first time in January 2014 in a protected area around the Puracé volcano in Colombia, an attack by a spectacled bear on a mountain tapir was directly documented with the help of a camera trap . The jaguar is less common as a predator, as it normally inhabits lower regions, but also occasionally appears in higher regions due to the deforestation of the lowland forests. However, adult animals can defend themselves well with their sharp incisors and canines (aggression towards humans is very rare), and sometimes they also spray water with their proboscis as a defense. Young animals are also victims of the Andean condors in some cases .
Parasites
The parasites that attack the mountain tapir include ticks in particular , and shield ticks of the genera Amblyomma and Ixodes have been identified . Especially during the dry season, horseflies are very common and cause the mountain tapir to migrate to higher regions of the Andes.
Systematics
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Internal system of the genus Tapirus (only recent representatives) according to Cozzuol et al. 2013
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The mountain tapir belongs to the genus of the tapirs ( Tapirus ), which was first recorded in Europe in the Oligocene and today has five recent representatives. The tapirs in turn are part of the family of tapirs (Tapiridae), an ancient and evolutionarily very conservative group of mammals with just a few feature changes over time. They represent the sister group of the rhinos , from which they separated around 47 million years ago, and with them they form the Ceratomorpha , which in the unpaired hoofed system are compared to the Hippomorpha with today's horses .
With the help of molecular genetic studies, the relationships between today's tapirs were analyzed. As a result, the line of single Asian tapir, the separated Schabrackentapirs ( Tapirus indicus ), from before 21 to 23 million years ago that the Central American tapir ( Tapirus bairdii ) followed before 19 till 20 million years ago. The three South American representatives split off only 3 to 3.5 million years ago when the ancestral form of this branch reached South America via the newly formed isthmus of Panama . A stronger splitting into the species still existing today took place in the Middle Pleistocene between 288 and 652 thousand years ago. The mountain tapir is the least specialized modern form of tapir.
Molecular genetic studies showed a high genetic variability in the mountain tapir, but this is not as strong as in the lowland tapir. Several haplotypes of the mountain tapir can be distinguished, which are divided into two large groups and differentiated around 1.5 and 1.3 million years ago. The ancestor of these two groups lived about 2.1 million years ago. The large differences within the mountain tapir are attributed to the strong climatic changes during the Pleistocene in the Andes and to a significant reduction in the population in the subsequent period.
Tribal history
The oldest record of the genus Tapirus in South America comes from Argentina and is around 1.5 to 2.5 million years old. It came to this continent after the closure of the Isthmus of Panama around 3 million years ago and the Great American Fauna Exchange that followed . Fossil finds from the mountain tapir are very rare, but a development of the species is only assumed with the final unfolding of the Andes, which was completed 3 to 6 million years ago. Often a relatively close relationship with the extinct species Tapirus mesopotamicus is seen, due to insufficient fossil material and fewer morphological differences to the lowland tapir, a distinction between these two species is considered difficult.
threat
The IUCN lists the mountain tapir as endangered. Originally, the heavy hunting was the cause of the endangerment of the mountain tapir. Today, in connection with increasing human settlement, deforestation and the destruction or fragmentation of landscapes contribute to the decline in populations. As a result, large, contiguous landscape areas rarely exist in the Andes. Furthermore, competition from domestic cattle, some of which even graze on the mountain meadows in the national parks, drives the tapir species away from large parts of its range. The total population is estimated at 2500 animals, making this the rarest tapir.
In Colombia, the species occurs in seven national parks, such as the Sumapaz National Park , which is home to particularly large areas of suitable habitat for the mountain tapir. The Sangay National Park in Ecuador is one of the most important refuges for the mountain tapir in South America . Further conservation efforts are also taking place in northern Peru, where small populations of the mountain tapir live near the Cerro Negro. In some regions in Colombia and Ecuador, the mountain tapir is also used as a pet.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Miguel Padilla, Robert C. Dowler, Craig Downer: Tapirus pinchaque (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae). In: Mammalian Species 42 (863), 2010, pp. 166-182.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Miguel Padilla, Robert C. Dowler, Craig Downer: Tapirus pinchaque (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae). In: Mammalian Species 42 (863), 2010, pp. 166-182.
- ^ Luke T. Holbrook: The unusual development of the sagittal crest in the Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris). In: Journal of Zoology 256, 2002, pp. 215-219.
- ^ A b Luke T. Holbrook: Comparative osteology of early Tertiary tapiromorphs (Mammalia, Perissodactyla). In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 132, 2001, pp. 1-54.
- ^ A b c Diego J. Lizcano, V. Pizarro, Jaime Cavelier, J. Carmona: Geographic distribution and population size of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in Colombia. In: Journal of Biogeography 29, 2002, pp. 7-15.
- ↑ a b c Craig C. Downer: Observations on the diet and habitat of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque). In: Journal of Zoology 254, 2001, pp. 279-291.
- ↑ Diego J. Lizcano, Jaime Cavelier: Densidad Poblacional y Disponibilidad de Habitat de la Danta de Montaiia (Tapirus pinchaque) en 10s Andes Centrales de Colombia. In: Biotropica 32 (1), 2000, pp. 165-173.
- ↑ Armando Castellano: Do Andean bears attack mountain tapirs? In: International Bear News 20, 2011, pp. 41-42.
- ↑ Abelardo Rodriguez, Ruben Gomez, Angelica Moreno, Carlos Cuellar, Diego J. Lizcano: Record of a mountain tapir attacked by an Andean bear on a camera trap. In: Tapir Conservation 23 (32), 2014, pp. 25-26.
- ↑ Marcelo B. Labruna and Alberto A. Guglielmone: Ticks of New World Tapirs. In: Tapir Conservation 18 (1), 2009, pp. 21-28.
- ^ A b Mario A. Cozzuol, Camila L. Clozato, Elizete C. Holanda, Flávio HG Rodrigues, Samuel Nienow, Benoit de Thoisy, Rodrigo AF Redondo, Fabrício R. Santos: A new species of tapir from the Amazon. In: Journal of Mammalogy 94 (6), 2013, pp. 1331-1345 ( [1] ).
- ↑ Christelle Tougard, Thomas Delefosse, Catherine Hänni, Claudine Montgelard: Phylogenetic relationships of the five extant rhinoceros species (Rhinocerotidae, Perissodactyla) based on mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S rRNA genes. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 19, 2001, pp. 34-44.
- ^ Mary V. Ashley, Jane E. Norman, Larissa Stross: Phylogenetic analysis of the Perissodactylan family Tapiridae using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COII) sequences. In: Journal of Mammalian Evolution 3 (4), 1996, pp. 315-326.
- ↑ Jane E. Norman, Mary V. Ashley: Phylogenetics of Perissodactyla and tests of the molecular clock. In: Journal of Molecular Evolution 50, 2000, pp. 11-21.
- ↑ Benoit de Thoisy, Anders Gonçalves da Silva, Manuel Ruiz-García, Andrés Tapia, Oswaldo Ramirez, Margarita Arana, Viviana Quse, César Paz-y-Miño, Mathias Tobler, Carlos Pedraza, Anne Lavergne: Population history, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of the last Neotropical mega-herbivore, the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris). In: Evolutionary Biology 10, 2010, pp. 1-16.
- ^ A b M. Ruiz-García, C. Vásquez, M. Pinedo-Castro, S. Sandoval, A. Castellanos, F. Kaston, B. de Thoisy, J. Shostell: Phylogeography of the Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) and the Central American Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and the Origins of the Three Latin-American Tapirs by Means of mtCyt-B Sequences. In: Anamthawat-Jónsson (Ed.): Current Topics in Phylogenetics and Phylogeography of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems. 2012, ISBN 978-953-51-0217-5 , ( online ).
- ^ Larry G. Marshall: Land mammals and Great American Interchanche. In: American Scientist 76, 1988, pp. 380-388.
- ↑ Brenda S. Ferrero, Jorge I. Noriega: A new Upper Pleistocene tapir from Argentinia: Remarks on the phylogenetics and diversification of Neotropical Tapiridae. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (2), 2007, pp. 504-511.
- ↑ Fernando A. Perini, João A. Oliveira, Leandro O. Salles, Carlos R. Moraes Neto, Patrícia G. Guedes, Luiz Flamarion B. Oliveira, Marcelo Weksler: New fossil records of Tapirus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Brazil, with a critical analysis of intra-generic diversity assessments based on lower molar size variability. In: Geobios 44, 2011, pp. 609-619.
- ^ AG Diaz, A. Castellanos, C. Piñeda, C. Downer, DJ Lizcano, E. Constantino, JA Suárez Mejía, J. Camancho, J. Darria, J. Amanzo, J. Sánchez, J. Sinisterra Santana, L. Ordoñez Delgado, LA Espino Castellanos, OL Montenegro: Tapirus pinchaque. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2, last accessed February 23, 2013 ( online ).
- ↑ Craig C. Downer: The mountain tapir, endangered 'flagship' species of the high Andes . In: Oryx 30 (1), 1996, pp. 45-58, abstract .
- ↑ Craig C. Downer: Cerro Negro: An Important Mountain Tapir Conservation Area in the Piuran Andes, Piura and Cajamarca States, NW Peru. In: Tapir Conservation 18 (1), 2009, pp. 36-39.
Web links
- Tapirus pinchaque in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2012. Posted by: AG Diaz u. a., 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- Photos, distribution map and more information (english)