Observations on the diet and habitat of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)

Results of a 4-year study in Sangay National Park, Ecuador, indicated that the mountain tapir Tapirus pinchaque, consumes a wide variety of woody and non-woody plant taxa primarily as a foliose browser, and has a preference f or some nitrogen-fixing plants. The more closed-cover Andean forest and cha parral habitats contain a greater abundance of mountain tapir-favoured food than the more open grassland paramo, riverine meadow, and pampas vegetatio n types. Andean forests are considered the most critical habitat for the su rvival of this tapir because of their provision of cover and food. Field ob servations and results of faecal germination experiments show that the moun tain tapir assists in the successful seed dispersal of many species of Ande an plants. Significant regressions between: (1) seed germination and (2) bo th the natural logarithm (In e) of the preference ratio and the dietary abu ndance of food species indicate a mutualism between the mid to high montane -dwelling mountain tapir and the plants it consumes. A significant relation during the past 2 to 3 million years is proposed between: (I) the crossing of the Panamanian Isthmus and the occupation of the mid to high northern A ndes by ancestors of the mountain tapir, and (2) the rise of the Andes and formation of the montane forest and paramo ecosystems above c. 2000 m eleva tion.