How do you choose which tapirs to collar?

Pukazhenthi: Ideally, we would like to collar animals that would help us answer the various questions mentioned earlier. Our current goal is to collar between 10 and 15 adult mountain tapirs, both males and females. But, in all honesty, we collar whomever we can. Since so little is known, every animal provides us with a new and important information about the species.

What can you learn from doing health assessments?

Ware: There is very little information available about the health status of wild mountain tapirs, in part because they are so difficult to track and anesthetize for the collection of samples. Once we locate and anesthetize an animal, we implant a transponder chip so we can identify them permanently. We also collect various biological samples including blood, serum, feces and any ectoparasites, such as ticks.

The biological samples we collect provide us with a baseline picture of the tapir’s general health status and parasite burden. We can also gain a better sense of the tapir’s exposure to diseases. As domestic cattle and horses encroach higher and further into the mountain forests, the potential for novel disease to spread to the tapirs increases. Some of these diseases could have devastating effects. Having a baseline is important to help track disease exposure and spread. This information is crucial for helping wildlife managers make decisions that could help protect the tapirs.

Pukazhenthi: We also conduct reproductive assessments on all animals. Ultrasound exams enable us to diagnose pregnancy in female tapirs. We also plan to collect semen from adult males to assess sperm quality and develop cryopreservation technologies for establishing a bank of frozen sperm.

How do the GPS collars work?

Stabach: GPS satellite collars work the same way that GPS navigation works in your car. It calculates how long it takes signals — traveling at the speed of light from a system of orbiting satellites — to be intercepted by a receiving unit. But, instead of your dashboard, the tracking device is incorporated into a collar that fits around the tapir’s neck. These particular collars weigh about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), which is less than 1 percent of the tapir’s body weight.

The collars we are deploying can provide data for 18 to 24 months. All collars are programed to automatically drop off after 2 years. At that point, we will return to the field and recover the collars.