Lowland tapir, gardeners of the forest

"Few animals are as essential, underestimated and persecuted as Tapirus terrestris, South America’s largest native land mammal and one of the planet’s most efficient promoters of biodiversity. Contrary to popular opinion in Brazil, the tapir is an intelligent animal with a high concentration of neurons, similar to the elephant. In the past, it was hunted in the Atlantic Forest to the point where it was declared a vulnerable species. Found to be a key player in maintaining plant diversity by dispersing important seeds over large areas in a study by São Paulo State University (UNESP), the tapir has earned its fame as the “gardener of the forest.” But to ensure its own sustainability, the Brazilian tapir of the Atlantic Forest needs urgent actions to fight the problems associated with the increasing fragmentation of its population. An expansive road networks cuts through their habitat, making it difficult for the tapirs to travel between forest fragments, and often resulting in the animals being hit and killed by vehicles . . . Already wiped out along the lower slopes of the coastal range in southern Rio de Janeiro state and in parts of the Brazilian northeast by the late 19th century, the lowland tapir was confined to the Atlantic Forest, where it faced a critical period from the 1950s to the 1970s. Hunting during this time slashed the remaining population, and isolated small groups of tapirs into ever more fragmented patches of forests."