In 1990, Sharon Matola wrote the first issue of Tapir Conservation with her manual typewriter in her office at the Belize Zoo. She introduced it with the following words: “This newsletter represents the first real effort of the Tapir Specialist Group/IUCN/SSC to establish an effective international network of communication among its members. Our immediate goal is to strengthen communication within the TSG and then, unified, work towards achieving the measures that will promote conservation of the family Tapiridae.” Today, 18 years and 23 issues later these goals still stand true, but our content has slowly evolved. The early issues contained short updates on ongoing field studies and news from captivity. Sharon published one issue a year until 1997, when Sheryl Todd joined the effort and the Newsletter got its first makeover. Published now in a professional layout, the news and field updates got more detailed, and included illustrations and black and white photos. The focus of the Newsletter was still on the exchange of information among TSG members, but more and more information of interest to a broader audience was included. The second makeover occurred in 2002, when Siân Waters and Stefan Seiz became the editors and the layout became more journal-like, with a front cover in color and more photos throughout the issue. A new section on Contributed Article was also added, with the goal of publishing peer-reviewed scientific articles on topics related to tapirs. This new format was a great success, further promoted and developed by Leonardo Salas during his tenure as editor (2005-2008). Between 2002 and 2008, over 34 articles were published in Tapir Conservation, covering topics from diet, habitat use, population genetics, conservation status and captive management.
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