User:Ezukowski/Baird's tapir

Habitat
Baird's Tapir are found in many diverse vegetation types. They can withstand elevations from sea level to up to 3600 meters. The animal can be found in wet areas like mangroves, marshes, swamp areas, wet tropical rainforests. As well as drier areas like riparian woodlands, deciduous forests, and mountainous cloud forests. It prefers secondary growth forests, when available due to increase in understory plants for foraging and protection. Food and water availability as well as protection are key factors in habitat selection.

Behavior
The Baird's tapir may be active at all hours, but is primarily nocturnal. It forages for leaves and fallen fruit, using well-worn tapir paths which zig-zag through the thick undergrowth of the forest. The animal usually stays close to water and enjoys swimming and wading – on especially hot days, individuals will rest in a watering hole for hours with only their heads above water. When in danger these animals will seek water.

It generally leads a solitary life, though small feeding groups are not uncommon, and individuals, especially those of different ages (young with their mothers, juveniles with adults) are often observed together. The animals communicate with one another through shrill whistles and squeaks.

When the Baird's tapir mate, they form long-term monogamous pairs. These pairs are known to defend territory. Though they can breed at any point in the year, it is most common prior to rainy seasons. Both parents take part in raising the children, as they move and sleep together as a unit. The mother will guide young by a nudging movement with her probiscis.

Food Habits

Baird's Tapir are  herbivores, rummaging from the forest floor to 1.5 meters over the ground. Leaves from an assortment of plant types provide the greater part of their eating regimen, yet they likewise eat twigs, blossoms, sedges, grasses, and fruits. fruits tend to be favorable when in season, but it depends on its availability. Dietary makeup of plant species additionally fluctuates with season. The presence of armor or biting insects on a plants do not hinder them from consuming that plant. They burn through the majority of their waking hours foraging in a zigzag fashion.

These animals lean toward plant types of medium to tall level, yet the main plants that are totally kept away from are small widely dispersed seedlings and enormous shade level trees. By and large, it will move onto another plant before each of the leaves are consumed on the one it is presently eating. They commonly feed in enormous treefalls or secondary forests because of the great thickness of understory plants which are for the most part exceptionally digestible and have not many protective poisons. Once in a while they will ascend on their rear feet to arrive at leaves past their ordinary reach or knock down slim or dead plants to get fruit or leaves. The absorption of nutrients is by all accounts poor in light of the huge by and large volume and critical measure of recognizable plant parts in their excrement.

Ecological Relationships
The Baird's tapir has a symbiotic relationship with cleaner birds that remove ticks from its fur: the yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) and the black vulture (Coragyps atratus) have both been observed removing and eating ticks from tapirs. Baird's tapirs often lie down for cleaning, and also present tick-infested areas to the cleaner birds by lifting limbs, and rolling from one side to the other.

These animals also have a marginal but noted effect as seed dispersers. Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Manilkara zapota and Quercus oleoides, have all found to be sometimes passable through the tapir digestive system. The intense chewing of these hard seeds serve to scarify them before germination and can sometimes improve the seed's likelihood of success. .

Threats
According to the IUCN, the Baird's tapir is endangered. There are many contributing factors in the decline of the species including loss of habitat from deforestation, forest fires, and large scale industrial projects. In certain areas, poaching, disease transmission from domesticated animals, pollution of native waterbodies, and the developing effects of climate change all threaten this species. Though in many areas, the animal is only hunted by a few humans, any loss of life is a serious blow to the tapir population, especially because their reproductive rate is so slow.

In Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama, hunting of the Baird's tapirs is illegal, but the laws protecting them are often unenforced. The issues of illegal logging in conserved areas also threaten these animals. Therefore, many conservationists are urging for the protection of existing habitat by improving maintenance an protection in existing habitat, through strengthening partnership with indigenous territories. As well as to re-establishing corridors of connection between existing habitat including the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, and improving education of locals to uphold and protect biodiversity. Captive breeding programs are helpful with many large terrestrial species, but there is a study showed a small population of Baird's tapirs in North American and Central American zoos had inbreeding and divergence from the wild population. Conservationists are urging for thoughtful approaches to breeding programs that focus on maintaining genetic diversity.