What If Gone

Species → Lowland Tapir

Lowland Tapir

Tapirus terrestris

No reliable global figure — too few density studies cover the whole…
Extinction risk Vulnerable
Seed disperserMegaherbivoreTropical forest
Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

What if it disappeared?

Impact High
Maracá Island, Amazon

By swallowing whole fruit and then defecating at latrines located up to 2 km from the source palms, the tapir shields seeds from a specialized weevil: 77% of seeds remaining near the parent tree are destroyed by the insect, compared with just 0.7% of seeds deposited at tapir latrines.

Documented
Detail

Fragoso, J.M.V. (1997). Tapir-generated seed shadows: scale-dependent patchiness in the Amazon rain forest. Journal of Ecology, 85(4), 519–529.

The study focuses on the large-seeded palm Maximiliana maripa in the Amazon forest of Maracá Island (Roraima, Brazil), tracking 6,140 seeds in total. The weevil Pachymerus cardo, a specialist on this seed, is markedly less active far from adult palm stands — the distance created by tapir transport alone is enough to drop predation from 77% to under 1%.

Then, Maracá Island, Amazon

This seed-level effect scales up to the forest itself: seedling and sapling densities are significantly higher at tapir latrines than around parent trees — over time, the tapir shapes the spatial distribution of the plant species it disperses.

Documented
Detail

Fragoso, J.M.V., Silvius, K.M. et Correa, J.A. (2003). Long-distance seed dispersal by tapirs increases seed survival and aggregates tropical trees. Ecology, 84(8), 1998–2006.

By extending the 1997 tracking through germination and the seedling stage, the authors show that the seed-survival advantage at latrines does translate into more actual plant recruitment — not just fewer seeds eaten. This second link, from seed survival rate to the realized distribution of adult trees, is the one most often missing from wildlife seed-dispersal studies.

Over three generations (33 years)

The lowland tapir is declining across its entire range — slightly more than 30% over the last three generations — under the combined effect of habitat loss, hunting, road collisions, and competition with livestock.

Documented
Detail

UICN, Liste rouge — Tapirus terrestris, évaluation du statut de conservation.

The assessment notes that too few density studies cover the full range to produce a reliable global population figure, but that the decline is considered widespread rather than confined to a few regions.

Documentation

Last verified: August 14, 2026