Current research

In the meantime I am continuing the risk assessment for the reintroduction.  Currently I am investigating the incidence of tuberculosis in the valley.  Tapirs are susceptible to TB and although any tapir would be screened for TB prior to reintroduction, it is important to find out if there is a high incidence of TB in the cattle population. If a tapir were to contract TB and then migrate and spread it to another tapir population this could have very grave consequences.  And of course it is important from a public health point of view as well.

I am also investigating current GPS tacking technology.  We hope to be able to track reintroduced tapirs with minimal disturbance by using GPS technology.  This would give us valuable information about how they are interacting and how far they are roaming.  Radio and GPS collars are being used in other tapir studies, however I am wondering if the technology exists to insert a GPS microchip.  This could be done when they first arrive and there would be no need to replace them every 5 years as is necessary with the collars.  Other potential issues with a GPS system could be that in dense undergrowth and with cloud cover whether it could be tricky to get GPS readings. 

Contact us

Below are the answers to some frequently asked questions, but if anyone has any other questions, comments or information for us then we’d love to hear from you.  (pollyunderdown@gmail.com)