We know that animals select where to live based on their needs — such as food, shelter or safe passage — and their preferences change throughout the year. I want to understand why large mammals choose some areas over others, and how human interaction affects their activity and distribution.
Tapirs are very charismatic, yet not many people know much about these species. Evolutionarily, tapirs represent a unique taxonomic group; they have retained most of their prehistoric anatomical traits. They are well adapted to climbing steep slopes efficiently, since they live at such high altitudes — between 3,200 meters and 4,300 meters above sea level. Their babies are absolutely cute and sport a brown and white watermelon-like pattern when they are young.
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