
The conservation status of the lowland tapir is critical in the Cerrado biome of Brazil, where local authorities recently classified it as Endangered according to the IUCN standards. It has been estimated that in the last 40 years the Cerrado lowland tapir lost 67% of its population. This study reports the “reappearance” of the lowland tapir in the largest protected area of Cerrado in the state of São Paulo, the Jataí Ecological Station (JES) after a 30 years period with no records. We sampled 105 camera trap locations, half within JES and half in a 2.6 km buffer zone, between April and September of 2013 (3150 camera trap-days). We also actively searched for signs and compiled all lowland tapir records obtained by local staff and other researchers in JES haphazardly in recent years. We logged a total of 10 lowland tapir records, seven from footprints and three from camera traps, in the study area between 2011 and 2013, all within the perimeter of JES. All records were from adults individuals but, unfortunately, it was not possible to individualize them. Our results suggest the presence of one or a few lowland tapirs inhabiting the study area. We failed to find information to clarify whether the lowland tapir has been lurking in the area
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