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Articles

Vol. 17 No. 24 (2008)

The Importance of Natural Licks in Predicting Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris, Linnaeus 1758) Occurrence in the Brazilian Pantanal

Submitted
7 July 2025
Published
2008-12-01

Abstract

In the northeastern Brazilian Pantanal, lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) regularly visit natural licks to eat soil and drink water. Here, we evaluate the importance of natural licks in predicting tapir presence in the region. We examined the relationship between the frequency of use of eight natural licks by tapirs and land cover composition at three spatial scales. We also test the relationship between frequency of use of licks and tapir probabilities of occurrence in areas surrounding natural licks (based on a landscape habitat model). Areas with similar landscape composition presented different intensity of use of the natural licks and areas with low occurrence probability exhibited high intensity of use. The results indicate tha natural licks are discrete landscape units important to the occurrence of T. terrestris in the region and should be incorporated into models of local species’ distribution.

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