Abstract

BOTELLO, Francisco et al. Population density of Central American tapir (Tapirella bairdii) in cloud forest in Totontepec Villa de Morelos, Oaxaca, Mexico. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2017, vol.88, n.4, pp.918-923. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmb.2017.10.016.

The Central American tapir (Tapirella bairdii) is the largest mammal in the Neotropics, and it is considered as an indicator species of habitat quality in tropical forests. The presence of a population of T. bairdii has been recently reported for the Sierra Mixe in the State of Oaxaca. Here we estimated the population density of the Central American tapir at this site using capture-recapture methods with camera traps and 5 independent observers. Six individuals were detected in an area of 18.75 km2, and a population density of 0.32 ind/km2 was estimated for this site. This is one of the highest population densities reported for the genus, highlighting Totontepec as an important area for the conservation of the species.

Keywords : Photo-traps; Capture-recapture; Conservation; Sierra Madre of Oaxaca.