The first complete tapir skeleton found in Europe

The first complete tapir skeleton in Europe was uncovered in Girona, Spain. It's a brief description in English with a nice photo. Here is another web site with a slightly longer description in Spanish.

Tapir Mola Art from Panama on T-Shirts and Gifts

Check out the beautiful tapir mola design in our new CafePress store! Your purchase helps save endangered species and their rainforest and Andean habitats. If tapirs are to be saved, people have to recognize them and care about their future. Help shed some light! Wear your tapir shirt and hat with pride! Send postcards and gifts that depict tapirs. Tell your friends what they're about. Let no one have to ask that sad and outdated question: "What is a tapir?" Does anyone ask, "What is a horse?" "What's a rhinoceros?" Let's have fun, flaunt some style, and promote these four endangered species! HELP SAVE THE TAPIRS! YEAH!

NOTE: I had to take down the design you see here because the photo resolution wasn't high enough. After much experimenting, I used the "twin" to this mola. It is slightly different from the one above, but more similar than different. These two mola designs are exceptional. I no longer have the one above, as it was sold on eBay. The molas are like twins and came stitched together. You'll see minor differences. Every mola is individual, which is part of their endless fascination for the many people who love them.

May 17, 2008: More elephant-elephant-hippo-rhino Stuff by Mary Beaird

All images in this post are copyright Mary Beaird

and have been transferred from the "Tapirs" Google Group

where Mary posted them on May 17, 2008.

Text is by Mary Beaird.)

Hallo

I thought I'd just give you a quick update on what's been happening in "Keanu's World". My first ever commision! Last year one of my work colleagues asked me to design her civil partnership invitations. Originally she wanted tapir versions of herself and her partner, but it proved too hard to put the clothes on them, and so I drew the happy couple normally and reinvented the guys as purple cherubs. Keanu is causing chaos as usual ... ^_-

Then we were asked to design new badges for the comics group to sell at events, and I reused the designs for "The Little Angels" set. I'll let you know how they get on, and I may have some more made independently. If I do, I'll be sure to send some to the Tapir gift shop.

[Editor's Note: Check out Mary's designs on shirts and other useful items in her online Zazzle store.]

Please e-mail your photos and text if you would like to see them on this blog.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.
Join WORLD TAPIR DAY on Facebook.

Reflections

http://groups.google.com/group/tapirs/browse_thread/thread/16fd73198b59b647

Donate to help save tapirs ~ Club Tapir projects for May are now online!

Lowland tapirs, Argentina

Asian tapir, Sumatra, Indonesia

Baird's tapir, Mexico

Mountain tapir, Colombia

Above are four photographic hints about the current Club Tapir Projects. One is brand new, three are old favorites. Vote for one, vote for several. Your votes = dollars for tapir conservation! Check them out and place your vote. This month we have all four tapir species represented by projects you can select. One hundred percent of your voting dollars go to the winning project. The Tapir Preservation Fund pays the administration costs, including costs to wire or send money to the winner. This month, our matching funds have run out, so every vote we can get is needed to help fund the project. These are wonderful conservation efforts. Please take a look!

We had some very close voting in April. The winners for March and April will be posted soon. April was so busy here that I never got the Club Tapir page updated. Thanks to your persistence and generosity we had votes and a winner anyway. I'm writing this from my laptop on the road and I must get moving, so . . . updates for those two months will be available soon!

Mountain tapir caught on film in Ecuador

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2008/04/first-camera-trap-photo-of-mountain.htm

The location is near the southern tip of Ecuador. "This is the first camera trap photograph of a Mountain Tapir taken at Tapichalaca, although they are occasionally seen." That's about all I know for now. You can read more about the World Land Trust's project via these links.

World Tapir Day Photo by Sergio Sandoval

Sergio Sandoval has sent this adorable photo of a very young mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in honor of World Tapir Day. Sergio wrote:

Hola,

I want to share with you and the Tapir Day people the picture that I use on my IM. I think it's very cute. It was taken in 2005, and this baby tapir is from the Huila region in the Central Andes of Colombia. It was taken near Pitalito, Huila. Nowadays, if still alive, this tapir must be nearly 3 years old. But nobody knows what's going on with him/her.

Abrazos,

Sergio

Send your World Tapir Day photos (a tapir photo in honor of the day, or photos of World Tapir Day events, how you spent the day, you in your tapir shirt, etc.) and we'll put them on the blog. Just click on the link on the right side of this page to see all posts with WORLD TAPIR DAY PHOTOS! See more pictures on the TAPIRS Google Group.

Happy World Tapir Day! (2008)

Originally posted by ebichu64

On the Tapirs Google group

Chester Zoo, England ~ April 27, 2008

Mary wrote:

Happy World Tapir Day everyone! My visit to Chester Zoo with my partner and a couple of friends was great. We arrived just before the tapirs were let out and fed, and surprise surprise, there were four - not three as I'd been told by the zoo only a week before. I need to find out whether it's a boy or a girl and what the name is, but here's a picture of the little sweetheart - taken through glass so not the best quality. . . .

The tapirs were pretty impatient to be let out, but of course, as soon as they were, they decided they'd much rather be back inside again! Well, it was a bit of a cold wet day really. Such sensible creatures! I've taken a lot of pictures and some video - of the tapirs and the zoo generally - and I'll start editing it all together tomorrow into, hopefully, something fun.

[See plans for World Tapir Day 2010 on the World Tapir Day Facebook page!]

Please e-mail your photos and text if you would like to see them on this blog.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.
Join WORLD TAPIR DAY on Facebook.

It's World Tapir Day!

This is Bintang, one of the Malayan tapirs born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle during the time Heidi Frohring was their keeper and best friend. Heidi sent me this photo in December 2000. You can just see Heidi behind the tapir and its wreath made of foliage. She found many creative ways to use plants and other tapir food to keep the animals interested and occupied. Over the years she sent wonderful photos, creative pictures with heart. Someone else must have taken this photo, since Heidi is in it. (If you took the photo, please let me know and I'll give photo credit.) It embodies the same spirit as many of Heidi's own photos. The tapirs become real to us through their expressive faces and gestures, or the photos captured them in lighting or a moment that is memorable and touches something within us. We relate and we care.

SEND YOUR WORLD TAPIR DAY PHOTOS AND WE WILL POST THEM!

Personally, I'm celebrating World Tapir Day not so differently from other days. Making blog posts, working on the web site, sending animal toys and gifts to people who order them online, e-mailing others involved in the tapir world. Also typically, I'm wearing a tapir t-shirt and (since this is the Pacific Northwest, after all) wearing a tapir sweatshirt over that. Next week I'll be visiting Seattle to celebrate my birthday and to meet Wilson Novarino, a tapir conservationist, researcher, and educator from Sumatra, Indonesia. The Tapir Preservation Fund has helped in a small way to support his work since we met online nearly a decade ago. I'm certainly looking forward to meeting in person, and of course, to renew acquaintances with the wonderful staff and the tapirs at Woodland Park Zoo. I have a few friends in that city as well. It will be fun. I'll be sure, as always, to wear tapirs and take my camera!

Whatever you are doing today, the FIRST ANNUAL WORLD TAPIR DAY, please think of these animals and look forward to a world in which more people will know of them through your efforts and to care about their conservation. Wear a shirt from the Tapir Gift Shop or CafePress (search for the word "tapir"). Or make your own wearable tapir art. Talk to people when your shirt becomes a conversation piece! I recently bought myself a mouse pad of the mountain tapir on the tapir items page, and immediately Lee asked to have it, as he has also fallen under the spell of the tapir. Anthony Long, who came up with the original idea for World Tapir Day, has provided tapir items you can buy in his World Tapir Day Store on CafePress. Proceeds from your purchase will go to tapir conservation projects, and this year's funded project will be April and the other Baird's tapirs at the Belize Zoo. During the summer months, tourism slows down and it's always a struggle to get enough money to feed the animals. If we all pitch in, we can help ease the burden this year. Sharon (the zoo's founder and director) is an amazing person who has done so much to create a climate of conservation awareness in Belize and an awareness among locals and tourists of Belize's wild animals. She's created many conservation models in Belize that really work and have been an inspiration to others in the field. Let's help her feed the tapirs this year!

Fortunately these days when you google tapirs, you come up with a lot of material. Try it, it's fun! Meanwhile, here are just a few links relevant to this post:

The Official World Tapir Day Website
Anthony's Tapir Blog
April's recent birthday party
Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

Stefan announces some very good tapir PR

This announcement was made by my friend and tapir colleague, Stefan Seitz. See below for the 2nd double-page spread in the magazine.

Hey,

The famous German TV + radio magazine “Hoerzu” (transl.: Listen) published a tapir story in its recent issue. The editor talked with me about my dissertation and refers to me in the text. He also quotes the TSG [Tapir Specialist Group] website and mentions the tapir symposium! Have a look at it!

I have the document in better resolution if you need (6 + 4 MB).

Best
wishes

Stefan

You can visit Stefan Seitz's 4Tapirs web site for more tapir info and pictures.

Tapirs and the survival of fruiting plants

A Baird's tapir on the Macal River in Belize

Photo by Sharon Matola, 2001

There is an interesting note in this article on Shifting Baselines that helps put modern-day tapirs into perspective regarding their role in helping to preserve not only the rainforest, but life on Earth as we know it. The photo above could not be taken today, as a dam on the Macal River has so drastically altered this vital ecosystem of Belize that it no longer functions in its ancient capacity. To quote the final sentence of the article: "They warn that the fast-paced decline of those animals in many forests today poses a serious threat for these unique [fruiting] plant species." I recommend reading the whole thing. It's an eye-opener.

Announcing World Tapir Day: 27 April 2008!

What an exciting event! The tapirs are finally getting a holiday of their own! Anthony Long of Australia has been working night and day to put together the first World Tapir Day. This is truly an event whose time has come! It arrives with a new and beautifully-designed web site, some must-have tapir t-shirts, and a conservation initiative to donate funds raised from the sale of merchandise to the Belize Zoo for Sharon Matola's ongoing and ground-breaking conservation work. Please read more about why she can always use funding on the World Tapir Day Web site.

LINKS:

World Tapir Day Official Web Site

Anthony's Excellent Tapir Blog

World Tapir Day discussion and announcement on Google Group: TAPIRS

World Tapir Day Merchandise on CafePress

My visit to see April the Tapir in 2005

I've just posted about my visit to the Belize Zoo and April on my personal blog. I'm still working on the rest of the trip to Belize.

Baird's tapir in Corcovado - rare night image

Baird's tapir photo by Tim Stahl

Kendra Bauer sent this haunting photo on March 17, 2008. She wrote, "I have attached a picture of our last tapir knock down, I love this picture with the tapir highlighted at night." The tapirs periodically need to be anesthetized so they can be monitored for health and so that their radio-collars can be checked and maintained. See the next post for more information. Also see Kendra's Baird's Tapir Project web site. Click on the photo for an enlarged view.

Baird's tapir in the mud

Here is a link to a couple of photos on the TravelPod blog showing a Baird's tapir cooling off in the mud in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. It's one of Kendra Bauer's radio-collared tapirs. Although it's an adventure to get there, this is one place that tapirs are often seen in the wild by visitors.

Here is a link to Kendra's SaveTapirs.org web site. I found some interesting info on this page. I thought it was particularly worth reading because we are just beginning to learn some of the basic biological information about tapirs through projects like this one.

"The Tapir Gallery - Welcome!" Has it really been 12 years? Yes!

March 15, 2008. Twelve years ago today (March 15, 1996) "The Tapir Gallery" opened on the Internet. There's still a dated notice at the bottom of the page. The tapir picture you see above welcomed guests. I remember cutting out a printed photo of the Malayan tapir I'd taken at the Amsterdam Zoo, slapping it onto a piece of paper and putting it in the scanner. I vaguely remember having taken the print off of another piece of paper, because you can see the glue marks on the tapir's rear end. Somewhere near the bottom or top of the tapir it said "Welcome," because I was trying out the caption feature of images. I liked it and I left it for many years. The quality of online photos has improved, and web design and code has sure come a long way, although the current Tapir Gallery maintains a kind of "Old Internet" charm, and I like it that way. The links work, and you're not going to confuse it with every white-background site with graphic navigation and a cookie-cutter format. The Tapir Gallery is homegrown and honest. That doesn't mean it couldn't be improved, and I'm currently in the midst of upgrading as time permits. Remember those old signs, "This site is under construction"? Eventually we all figured out that a web site is ALWAYS under construction! Or it should be.

If you'd like to see how the site looked by November of 1996, here is a link. No, I didn't have to save the archive, but sometime in the last few years I discovered a very cool web site called The Wayback Machine. It archives web sites. For certain years it has archived the Tapir Gallery main page numerous times, and other years maybe twice. Here you can see the site's list of links to saved main pages for The Tapir Gallery. Sometimes it saves most of the photos and links and sometimes not. It's a trip. You can track the site through time.

HOW THE SITE STARTED

I first began to learn HTML during a hospital stay in January 1996. Typically, I didn't just take an easy book to read and try to relax, but I took the folder of bills that had to be paid, and - much more interesting - I took a bunch of printouts from the web on how to code HTML. I actually read them, and in a week when I came back home (I was living in the tiny town of Palisade, Colorado), I began coding. I had no idea what was in store. To say that this exercise changed my life is a minor, minor understatement.

EVOLUTION

People have asked me through the years why the Tapir Preservation Fund doesn't have its own separate URL and why the site is called The Tapir Gallery, and not The Tapir Preservation Fund. The real answer is, it all just grew out of my home page, which I started in January 2006. And here's a link if you want to take a gander at how that started! I envisioned the Tapir Gallery not like an art gallery, but like the great halls of a natural history museum - also called galleries. The URL was tapirback.com, because there was a book I had self-published under the imprint of Tapirback Books. Anyway, when I married Marco and we moved to Colorado, he started an AutoCad drafting business and named it Tapirback Enterprises. We had some other business ideas, too, so "Enterprises" seemed like a good idea. Things evolved, things changed, but the URL remained. I kept growing it like a tree with branches and never had a great desire to separate the parts physically. I have tried to clarify the Tapirback home page so you can find the main sections easily.

From almost day one The Tapir Gallery attracted a lot of visitors, as it was probably the second tapir site on the Internet, the first being a site developed by a teenager named Jamie, who loved tapirs, and who I would like to acknowledge here and remember. If I can find his Tapir Net (or TapirNet) on The Wayback Machine, I'll make a link. He posted long encyclopedia references on tapirs (which was virtually all the actual info you could find online about tapirs in those days), and had a neat graphic where you could click on the parts of the tapir and they would enlarge in a circle for a better view. His site icon photo was a pic of a lowland tapir labelled Central American Tapir, I remember that. It was hard to check up on such mistakes in the early days. Printed books notoriously had hundreds of mistakes about tapirs, and that's where he'd obtained his information. I suggested he change it, but he never did. I think he was upset that The Tapir Gallery grew and became easier to find on the searches. We're all still struggling with that one as the web continues to explode. I remember when I could catalog nearly all of the tapirs online and put them in links lists. But those days are gone. A culling of "best of" or "my favorites" is about all that can be done. There is now so much material on tapirs that a person can usually get good data and make comparisons. It's also a lot more fun for tapir fans.

WHERE TO NOW?

I'm pleased that The Tapir Gallery is still a useful resource. Also in 1996 The Tapir Preservation Fund was born in Colorado, and 18 months later gained its Federal 501 (c) (3) nonprofit status. As these aspects of my work grew and the gift shop that supports it needed constant attention like a baby for its first few years, the actual tapir data and photos on The Tapir Gallery became less and less current. During this 12 years, I've enjoyed going back to serious site work at intervals. Recently I've begun seriously to work on it again, and plan to keep on coding with new design ideas and thoughts about what content is relevant in this decade given the sources that have grown up around us all. It's still fun, it's still a challenge, and it still attracts loads of visitors who, hopefully find what they're looking for. What more could I ask?

Happy Anniversary, Tapir Gallery . . . and many more!

Sheryl

Two tapir species in one - enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffeta/2329401365/

There are so so so many mistakes in photos and literature regarding tapirs, the mistakes could fill a book. In fact, Stefan Seitz (IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group Member and Editor of Tapir Conservtion newsletter) based a large part his PhD thesis on mistakes people make when looking at tapirs. It's an interesting topic and someday I'll pull my examples out of the files. Meanwhile, this is a very interesting link. Nice drawing, but two species in one!

While I'm at it, I enjoyed this blog of pictures of the Pantanal in Brazil including a couple of interesting posts with tapirs. Take a look at the March 12 post. You'll have to scroll down. Actually, this link will bring up all three tapir posts. In post 2 (March 17) I love the fox trotting after the tapir!

Belize: Sharon Matola's attempt to stop the dam and save the scarlet macaw and Baird's tapir

This book (The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird) is bound to be an incredibly interesting and thought-provoking read. I'm going to buy my copy from Amazon.com today. Sharon's comment to me was: "I hope it leads into a major discussion in many circles about the need to work to preserve what is left."

In small part, The Tapir Preservation Fund helped Sharon in this struggle through your donations to Club Tapir. We did what we could. I wish we could have done more. It was a long and arduous struggle for her, often dangerous and lonely. She is a fighter, and only someone of her calibre could have continued the fray. In the end, sadly, they built the dam.

I'm looking forward to reading the book. When it first came out a few weeks ago I tried to find it at Barnes and Noble, but could only remember the title of the review, not the book. The New York Times Book Review by Elizabeth Royte was powerful. The name? "Of Crime and the River." That tells you something. Discover magazine has just posted an excerpt from the book online. It talks about Sharon, who is as colorful as the macaw. I've met Sharon several times and worked with her when she was Chair of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group and I was her Deputy Chair. It was a memorable time, a privilege. Anyone who knows Sharon knows that she is a tremendous advocate of tapirs and knows how much she has done for their conservation in Belize. This is, of course, how I learned about the dam and the situation. Saving the tapirs in that area was important, but even more critical was the fact that the Macal River (named for the macaw) provide the only known breeding grounds for a subspecies of scarlet macaw, Ara macao cyanoptera, estimated in 1999 to number less than 200 in Belize. We saw the area on a trip to Belize a couple of years ago, and I can only say it's a terrible shame that the dam was finally built. I'll post some photos of the area when I can, or try to get some.

Historical info and a few letters on The Tapir Gallery web site

MORE REVIEWS AND COMMENTARY

Another and much longer excerpt of the book appears online on the New York Times site under "First Chapters," and here is an article online about Belize by the book's author, Bruce Barcott.

Extinction: This review (Our Broken Home) by Barcott is also well worth reading.

Here's another commentary on the book, including some interesting facts.

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

May 30, 2008: Having now finished the book (I'm posting this on May 30, 2008, but I finished it a few weeks ago, I can say it was an amazingly good read - one that you don't want to end. It reads like a good novel. I learned more about Sharon, more about her fight against the dam and the reasons it became such a struggle. Really, it is worth hearing the story. Among other things, I learned much I didn't know about macaws and their habitat. I can't think of more enticing words at the moment, but the details of the book were fascinating. There is yet another review of this book, published today. It's worth reading the review, but also the first comment following the review. It seems Belize has begun to move on with a new level of governmental integrity. While the message may be, "Don't judge the new Belize by the old cover," it is still a valid and valuable book. It's a story that should be told for any number of reasons. I am sure that it often takes the light of awareness and people brave enough to speak out to create positive changes. The macaws may never come back, and it's a sad chapter, but harpy eagles once again soar over the Mayan ruins and the jungles of Belize, and this is thanks to the woman who will not give up.

Die Tapire (The Tapirs) - book available in German

The Tapirs

Edited by Sheryl Todd and Udo Ganslosser

Hi All, I was just browsing and found that you can order this book (in German only) from a web site in England. They ship worldwide. I edited the book (in English) along with Dr. Udo Ganslosser in 1994. It was translated into German for its only publication. I understand from Dr. Ganslosser that the hoped-for English language version is no longer planned. Some excellent authors contributed chapters, and I would like to see it come to fruition in English. I'm going to work with Dr. Ganslosser to make this happen when time and funds permit (as always). Meanwhile, here is one source for the book:

http://www.nhbs.com/title.php?tefno=157367

It looks like it's also available through the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Research Information System interlibrary loan:

http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!689085!0#focus

Sheryl

What's New in The Tapir Gallery?

Tapir Bibliograpy
Reorganization of the bibliography section. Downloads available in English and German for Martin Stummer's 1971 article, "Wolltapire, Tapirus pinchaque (Roulin), in Ecuador."

TPF Blog
I've been making a lot of blog posts lately, so please take a look at this blog, from the top (newest posts).

What's New in the Tapir Gallery?
Not to confuse anyone with the note above (about new posts on the blog), I've also started using this blog to post what's new and updated on The Tapir Gallery web site. You can always click on the "new" label in the Labels list to the right (scroll down), and the "What's New?" posts will be collected for you. Or, you can use the link at the top right to see the "What's New?" posts. Try it! You can always return to the top of the blog with the "Show All" link above, the "Home" link below, or the link at the top right that says "THIS BLOG, FROM THE TOP." I mention all of these because I get focused on posting and it took me awhile to find some of them. Very cool! Navigation made easy for the web (in this case blog) person . . . me.