Abstract
Salt-lick use and behavior around salt licks of wild Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus) were studied using infrared sensor cameras in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, Malaysia, to observe different aspects of the ecology and behavior of this otherwise very elusive mammal for which we know little. All tapirs recorded at the salt licks were adult-sized individuals, and they were observed at night. Water-drinking behavior was observed in 73% of the captures at the salt licks, suggesting that they visited the salt licks for physiological needs, e.g., to supplement plant-based diet by drinking water containing minerals. Only one or two tapirs (male–female combination) were recorded at the same time; no same-sex individuals were recorded at the same time though both tapirs could be confidently sexed in 48% of the 88 captures containing records with two tapirs. Seven males and six females were identified. Each identified individual visited 1–3 salt licks, and multiple identified males and females were recorded at the same salt lick, suggesting the overlap of their home ranges. They were recorded around the studied salt licks once per 36 days on average, though they could visit other salt licks, too. The frequency varied across individuals (once per 11–204). Analyses of one-night tapir recordings suggested that one particular individual or one male–female pair occupied a salt lick for 3–4 h, indicating their exclusive behavior particularly between same-sex individuals. The results revealed the frequent salt-lick use by tapirs, suggesting importance of salt licks for their survival and social interactions.
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Data availability
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to place on record my sincere thanks to Pulau Banding Foundation for supporting the fieldwork and the administrative proceedings of the research permissions within Belum Temengor Forest Complex. We also thank all the staff of Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University for providing suitable advice.
Funding
This study was supported by the JSPS Core-to-Core Program A. Advanced Research Networks (Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University), JSPS Program for Leading Graduate Schools, “Leading Graduate Program in Primatology and Wildlife Science,” JSPS International Training Program (ITP-HOPE), and JSPS Institutional Program for Young Researcher Overseas Visits (AS-HOPE).
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The first author conceptualized the study, conducted project administration, considering methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, visualization, and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. The second author is a specialist of fauna in the study area and provided the resources for analysis. He also contributed to data curation, formal analysis, consideration of methodology, and validation, and critically reviewed the manuscript. The last author is the supervisor of the study and contributed to funding acquisition, interpretation data and critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
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We conducted this work under permission from Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia (UPE: 40/200/19/3078).
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Supplementary information
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10344_2021_1536_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Supplementary file1 (PDF 481 KB). Supplementary Information SI1.—(a) The detail information of the four studied salt licks in BTFC, Perak, Malaysia. (b) Location of three salt licks (Tiang A, B, and C) in RBSP.
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Supplementary file2 (PDF 132 KB). Supplementary Information SI2.—The number of functioning sensor camera, video (picture) of tapir, days with tapir records, camera days, and days with functioning camera at each salt lick. "Days with functioning sensor camera" means the days in which at least one sensor camera was functioning without any troubles, as not all the cameras were functioning for full time during the survey. The animals were not recorded when they passed in front of the camera quickly because of a few seconds delay in triggering.
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Supplementary file3 (PDF 732 KB). Supplementary Information SI3.—Typical example of the captured images (or pictures) available for sex identification and 13 identified Malayan tapirs.
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Supplementary file4 (PDF 216 KB). Supplementary Information SI4.—Sound spectrograms of squeal-like sound by a female and hiccup-like sound by a male during a male–female interaction (recorded at Tiang B salt lick on 16 July 2014).
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Supplementary file5 (PDF 138 KB). Supplementary Information SI5.—The number of visits by identified individuals to each studied salt lick. "M1–M7", "F1–F6" indicate the identified individuals.
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Supplementary file6 (PDF 120 KB). Supplementary Information SI6.—The number of pair partners and the combination. The number in parenthesis shows the total of days when the specific pair was observed.
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Supplementary file7 (PDF 98 KB). Supplementary Information SI7.—Typical records of the particular identified tapirs at a salt lick in one night.
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Supplementary file8 (PDF 162 KB). Supplementary Information SI8.—Example of the record of individuals visiting a salt lick. “unID” means an unidentified tapir. F1 was observed with M1 for 3 days (20 August, 14 and 20 November, 2014), and with M2 for 2 days (21 and 22 August, 2014) at Tersau in TFR, F2 was recorded with M3 for 5 days (2, 9, 12 and 13 March, 26 April, 4 May, and 23 September 2014), and with M7 for 1 day (14 December 2014). F2 and M3 were usually recorded at Tiang B salt lick in RBSP, but recorded at Tiang C only once on 12 March, 2014.
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Tawa , ., Sah, S.A.M. & Kohshima , . Salt-lick use by wild Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus): behavior and social interactions at salt licks. Eur J Wildl Res 67, 91 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01536-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01536-9