Avoiding road collisions with ground tapirs

Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas

Dear supporters,

Thanks to your support, the terrestrial tapir conservation program will soon be celebrating 30 years of commitment!
To mark this anniversary, the team is preparing a 45-minute documentary entitled TAPIR - THE MOVIE, in partnership with NITRO Visual Stories. This film will tell the incredible story of the conservation of this emblematic species, from the earliest research to current successes in the field.
Through spectacular images shot in the Pantanal and the Amazon, it will carry a strong message: tapirs play an essential role in the health of forests, water and biodiversity as a whole.

Eager to discover more about this wonderful adventure? Find out all about it on the project website: https://bit.ly/tapirthemovie.

A film about Brazilian tapirs coming soon?

Beauval Nature

Dear difteur-ses,

Founded in 1992, the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas studies terrestrial tapirs within 4 Brazilian biomes. The IPÊ also assesses the impact of deforestation on the species and combats threats to it (road collisions, pesticides).

Let's walk through together key figures 2024 for this historic Beauval Nature program, supported since 2009.
▪️ 10 field expeditions
▪️ 126 days of study
▪️ 40 tapirs (re)captured
▪️ 30 anesthetics
▪️ 149 biological samples taken for health studies
▪️ 12 GPS collars placed on tapirs
▪️ 14 interventions at events, conferences or workshops
▪️ 8 publications
▪️ 3 awards received

In 2024, thanks to your support, Beauval Nature's funding was used to cover costs for field expeditions and to pay for laboratory tests to detect pesticide and metal contamination in tapir.

126 days in the field to preserve tapirs in 2024

Dear difteurs,

Patrícia Medici, coordinator of the tapir conservation program, has received the prestigious Women of Discovery Award from WINGS WorldQuest. WINGS is a North American NGO that highlights and funds projects by visionary women. It's a great honor for the teams to see the tapir represented among incredible projects, species and women from around the world!

In parallel, over the past few months, the IPÊ teams have led 3 major expeditions:

1️⃣ The first, in the Carajás National Forest in the Amazon, collected images from 50 camera traps set up to study wildlife and track ground tapirs. A female tapir was caught and fitted with a GPS collar.

2️⃣ The second expedition was conducted in the town of Campo Grande: 5 animals were captured and 3 were fitted with GPS collars. One of the tapirs was a youngster aged just 8 months! The teams collected its DNA to try and identify its parents.

3️⃣ Finally, in the Pantanal, the last field mission saw the 100 camera traps installed on the Baía das Pedras ranch surveyed and checked.

A big thank you to you, dear donors, for your invaluable support and donations ✨
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A prestigious award for Patrícia!

Dear difters,

Part of the team went on a mission to the site of Agropalma, in the Amazonian state of Pará. The aim was to check the photographic trap network and record the images captured by the 50 cameras installed.

Next, the teams offered a conservation communication training course in Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. 55 professionals attended this course, the aim of which was to demonstrate the role and importance of communication in safeguarding biodiversity.

Finally, in Búzios, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the IPÊ visited the 12th congress of the Brazilian Association of Mammalogists. They presented their work on tapir preservation and displayed 6 posters.

A big thank you to you for your invaluable support and donations!

A busy schedule in Brazil: expedition, training and conference

The IPÊ team visited the Pantanal biome and celebrated the 28th anniversary of the land tapir conservation project! This project, launched in 1996, is celebrating several records this year: 500 tapir captures in total, 11 anaesthetics carried out during the same expedition and 5 animals caught in one day. These captures enable the health of the animals to be monitored, genetic analyses to be carried out and some tapirs to be fitted with GPS collars to track their movements.

A few days later, almost 100 researchers from 15 different countries gathered in Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, for a symposium on tapir conservation.

In addition, the Nhecolândia community fire department was mobilized, as feared, to fight a fire located some 50 km from the NGO's study area, in the Pantanal biome.

Return from the Pantanal expedition

A few days ago, the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas team was out in the field, in the agricultural area of Tanguro, in the Amazon. This 12-day expedition resulted in the capture of 9 tapirs (identification, health checks, biological samples, etc.) and the fitting of GPS collars on 4 individuals. This device enables us to track their movements and helps us understand their ecology. A few days earlier, the team was in Carajás, a mining operation also located in the Amazon. A tapir was fitted with a GPS collar. The next expedition will take place in the Pantanal, another Brazilian biome. More than 15 days will be needed to record and check the 100 camera traps present on the Baía das Pedras ranch in order to track the tapirs.

Avoiding road collisions with ground tapirs

The project

Use of the money