0 an animal with hoofs, a long nose that bends, and a smooth coat, found in the forests of Southeast Asia and Central and South America --
It has been on the tapir for many years.
Fragoso (1997) also found a clumped distribution of palms that were dispersed primarily by tapirs and secondarily by agoutis.
This implies that tapir influenced seed germination and plant recruitment patterns are unpredictable over months and amongst years, an important consideration when trying to understand the mechanisms structuring tropical forests.
The forest and wetland ecosystems contain more than 800 species of trees, 500 species of birds, and large populations of mammals, including monkeys, jaguars, and tapirs.
Tapir generated seed-rain occurred throughout the year, with seeds defecated in all months.
Additionally, the spatio-temporal pattern of the seed-rain and seed-shadows generated by tapirs was recorded.
To date, studies of tapir seed dispersal have produced only partial temporal descriptions of tapir generated seed rain.
Tapirs can function as seed dispersers, as shown by the many seeds of several species that survived passage through the gut of lowland tapirs.
