Guest blog post by Rafael Reyna-Hurtado.
In a recent issue of Neotropical Biology and Conservation we published an article titled “Extreme fighting and vocalisation in Tapirus bairdii, observations from aguadas of Calakmul, social arenas for the species.”
In our paper, we describe how a species known to be gentle and shy can initiate serious fights with conspecifics and how agile and aggressive these gentle giants of the Neotropical forests are capable of being.
We conducted our research in the amazing site of Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected area in Campeche State in Southern Mexico in the heart of the Maya Forest, a forest shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.
In this forest, jaguars, tapirs and herds of white-lipped peccaries roam the forest floor while spider and howler monkeys make their way across the forest canopy, all surrounded by Mayan temples hidden in the trees.
My research over the last 20 years has been based in ungulates (mammals with hooves). I became passionate about tapirs after I met them for the first time in the tropical forest of Campeche. As a kid who grew up in central Mexico, I never imagined that a creature of that size and weight was still alive and moving silently in the tropical forest of my country.
The gentle and shy behaviour of tapirs has been confirmed by my main research technique: camera traps. For 10 years we have recorded many tapirs visiting ponds at night, walking and sniffing in silence, at a slow pace, and usually in the late hours of the night (before midnight), or the early hours of the day (after 4:00 am).
Our camera traps always showed tapirs walking silently, slowly and stopping many times to listen and smell for danger. So imagine my surprise when, in the dry season of 2024, one camera showed us 97 videos of tapirs involved in serious fighting, running, chasing, biting each other and whistling for almost two weeks. It changed our perception of tapirs’ behaviour. Yes, they can be gentle, shy animals, but when challenged they can transform into extreme fighters!
Our research also shows that some specific places, like the water ponds of Calakmul, locally named “aguadas”, are not only sources of water for wildlife during the dry season, but also serve as so-called “social arenas”, sites where animals socialise with conspecifics and acquire information on predators. The role of “aguadas” as social arenas for tapirs make these sites a priority for conservation.
Knowing the secret behaviour of a shy, rare and endangered animal is a privilege that amazes me anytime I am in the forest, or when I check our camera traps. It is a feeling of being witness to behaviours and ecological relationships that have not changed for thousands of years.
The information is also very valuable for conservation purposes. Places like Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, where animal and plant communities are still in their original composition, are very rare. We must preserve such places as they show us the interesting relationships between animals and plants that have existed for thousands of years and that are key to the survival of these species. We must learn and work together to keep these sites untouched and allow tapirs to be shy and calm, or, from time to time, become serious extreme fighters!
Original source
Reyna-Hurtado R, Huerta-Rodríguez JO, Rojas-Flores E (2025) Extreme fighting and vocalisations in Tapirus bairdii: observations from aguadas of Calakmul, social arenas for the species. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 20(1): 67-78. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.20.e143760
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