Primer registro cuantitativo de vocalización de la Danta de montaña (Tapirus pinchaque) en el Parque Regional Natural Ucumarí, Risaralda, Colombia

Abstract

The mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) is distributed in the high montane forests and paramos of the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru. Various studies have described the vocalization of three of the four tapir species in different contexts. However, for T. pinchaque no previous information has been obtained. We report the first description of the vocalization of the species, which was obtained in the Ucumarí Natural Regional Park, using trap cameras configured in video mode with a duration of 15 s and with intervals between shots of 3 s, installed between August and October 2023. At the station in the “La Cascada Frailes” sector, a female was recorded vocalizing three times, followed later by a male. This would be the second description of tapir vocalizations in situ and the first for T. pinchaque, which is considered a courtship call called “pair bonding” made by the female composed of a single pressed note. This is important to know the interactions between individuals of this species, the ecological context of these calls and the population dynamics to guide the management and conservation measures of T. pinchaque in the territory.