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74-743: The Rupununi River is one of the main tributaries of the Essequibo River and is located in southern Guyana . The river originates in the Kanuku Mountains , which are located in the Upper Takutu-Essequibo region. The Rupununi River flows near the Guyana-Brazil border, and eventually leads into the Essequibo River. Throughout the flood season, the river shares a watershed with the Amazon. During

148-452: A paraphyletic complex of T. terrestris populations. T. indicus  (Malayan tapir) T. terrestris  (South American tapir, Ecuador cluster) T. pinchaque  (mountain tapir) T. terrestris  (South American tapir, other clusters) T. bairdii  (Baird's tapir) The species of tapir have the following chromosomal numbers: The Malayan tapir,

222-567: A condition most commonly found in Malayan tapirs. The exact etiology is unknown, but the cloudiness may be caused by excessive exposure to light or by trauma. However, the tapir's sensitive ears and strong sense of smell help to compensate for deficiencies in vision. Tapirs have simple stomachs and are hindgut fermenters that ferment digested food in a large cecum . Young tapirs reach sexual maturity between three and five years of age, with females maturing earlier than males. Under good conditions,

296-492: A decline in their population numbers. Another large mammal that lives in the Rupununi is the giant otter , which is the largest otter in the world. Various species of primates and smaller terrestrial herbivores and insectivores such as the tapirs , also live and forage along the Rupununi river. Notable species include: The Rupununi has one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems on the planet. A total of 410 species of fish inhabit

370-558: A distance of at least 80 km north. This could be caused by calculation errors or other mistakes. Possibly he followed a different branch of the river more in the South of Guyana. To further investigate this, additional research is necessary, preferably in the original reports of Robert Hermann Schomburgk from his expedition in 1837/38. For the accurate determination of the headwaters and their proper classification, further extensive geological and hydrological studies are necessary. In 2018, with

444-662: A force inland along the banks of the Essequibo River, reaching what he wrongly believed to be Lake Parime . The next year Kemys, in command of the Darling , continued the exploration of the Guiana coast and the Essequibo River. The first European settlement in Guyana was built by the Dutch along the lower part of the Essequibo in 1615. The Dutch colony of Essequibo was founded in 1616 and located in

518-457: A good deal of time in and under water, feeding on soft vegetation, taking refuge from predators , and cooling off during hot periods. Tapirs near a water source will swim, sink to the bottom, and walk along the riverbed to feed, and have been known to submerge themselves to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies. Along with freshwater lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits, which helps to keep them cool and free of insects. In

592-571: A great diversity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that harbor many species extirpated from other areas of South America. The Rupununi's freshwater eco-regions are areas of exceptional species richness, comparable to that of the Amazonia. Flora and fauna flourish in the Rupununi river because of the Rupununi's isolation from human activity. During an expedition, the South Rupununi Biodiversity Assessment Team (BAT), described

666-466: A group of researchers said they had identified a fifth species of tapir, the kabomani tapir . However, the existence of the kabomani tapir as a distinct species has been widely disputed, and recent genetic evidence further suggests that it actually is part of the species South American tapir . The four species are all classified on the IUCN Red List as Endangered or Vulnerable . The tapirs have

740-399: A healthy female tapir can reproduce every two years; a single young, called a calf, is born after a gestation of about 13 months. The natural lifespan of a tapir is about 25 to 30 years, both in the wild and in zoos. Apart from mothers and their young offspring, tapirs lead almost exclusively solitary lives. Although they frequently live in dryland forests, tapirs with access to rivers spend

814-598: A number of extinct relatives in the superfamily Tapiroidea . The closest extant relatives of the tapirs are the other odd-toed ungulates , which include horses , wild asses , zebras and rhinoceroses . During the Late Pleistocene , several other species inhabited North America, including Tapirus veroensis , native to the southern and eastern United States (with its northernmost records being New York State), and Tapirus merriami and Tapirus californicus , native to Western North America. These became extinct during

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888-409: A stereoscope to interpret the physical features and the geology of the region prior to making four expeditions into the field to check their observations. On Expedition III they explored the entire Essequibo basin. They travelled separately in two outboard-powered canoes, each team comprising a geologist and five Amerindians. Starting at Kanashen, they canoed up all the major eastward flowing tributaries:

962-652: A total distance of about 1,000 miles (1,600 km). A Guyanese-German expedition in Guyana in April and May 2013 followed the course of the Sipu River to detect the still unknown headwaters of the Essequibo. It was sponsored by the French-German TV Company ARTE and was organized by Duane De Freitas (Rupununi Trails) and the film production team of Marion Pöllmann and Rainer Bergomaz (Blue Paw Artists). The responsible scientist for remote sensing , geodesy and mapping

1036-677: A total of 306 bird species living along the river. Another avian-survey of the North Rupununi river, conducted by David C. Morimoto, Gajendra Nauth Narine, Michael D. Schindlinger and Asaph Wilson (DCM, MDS), showed that "4243 individuals, 292 species, and 58 families" of birds inhabited the Northern Rupununi river. Rare bird species that were found in the survey were the Crested Doradito and the Sun Parakeet . The Harpy Eagle also inhabits

1110-513: Is a conservation and research organization founded by Patrícia Medici , focused on tapir conservation in Brazil. Tapirs are generally shy, but when scared they can defend themselves with their very powerful jaws. In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed after opening the door to a female tapir's enclosure to push food inside (the tapir's two-month-old baby also occupied

1184-479: Is divided into four main zones. Furthest south are areas of Rhyacian meta-sediments, meta-volcanics (Kwitaro Group) and associated granites, all intruded by Orosirian rocks of the Southern Guyana Granite Complex. The Kanuku Mountains consist of high grade gneisses in a NE-SW belt. The Takutu Graben is a NE-SW fault bounded basin initially filled by basaltic lava, then Mesozoic sediments, including

1258-737: Is limited; all captive mountain tapirs, for example, are descended from only two founder individuals. Hybrids of Baird's and the South American tapirs were bred at the San Francisco Zoo around 1969 and later produced a backcross second generation. A number of conservation projects have been started around the world. The Tapir Specialist Group, a unit of the IUCN Species Survival Commission , strives to conserve biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and conducting practical programs to study, save, restore, and manage

1332-464: Is the ecolodge Caiman House, a social enterprise that drives revenue to a public library, raising the pass rate into secondary school from near-zero in 2005 to 86% in 2019. Conservation International host a website on the Rupununi that includes details of ecotourism accommodation. Some tourists travel overland from Georgetown to Lethem via the Rupununi and on to Brazil, but the travel is very slow in

1406-710: Is the largest river in Guyana , and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon . Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana border , the Essequibo flows to the north for 1,014 km (630 mi) through forest and savanna into the Atlantic Ocean. It has a total drainage basin of 156,828 km (60,552 sq mi) and an average discharge of 5,650 m /s (200,000 cu ft/s). Territory near

1480-768: The Amazon River is joined by the Rio Negro. They followed the Negro upstream to where it is joined by the Rio Ireng that forms the border between Brazil and Guyana . After following the Ireng for a few tens of kilometers they hovered about 40 miles across the North Savannas of Guyana to the Rupununi River, which they followed to its confluence with the Essequibo River at Apoteri. The Essequibo

1554-648: The Andes is generally more active during the day than its congeners . They have monocular vision . Copulation may occur in or out of water. In captivity, mating pairs will often copulate several times during oestrus. Intromission lasts between 10 and 20 minutes. Adult tapirs are large enough to have few natural predators, and the thick skin on the backs of their necks helps to protect them from threats such as jaguars , crocodiles , anacondas , and tigers . The creatures are also able to run fairly quickly, considering their size and cumbersome appearance, finding shelter in

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1628-492: The Great American Biotic Interchange with their oldest records on the continent dating to around 2.6-1 million years ago. Approximate divergence times based on a 2013 analysis of mtDNA sequences are 0.5 Ma for T. kabomani and the T. terrestris – T. pinchaque clade, 5 Ma for T. bairdii and the three South American tapirs, and 9 Ma for the branching of T. indicus . T. pinchaque arises from within

1702-670: The Pleistocene epoch from North America after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama as part of the Great American Interchange . Tapirs were formerly present across North America, but became extinct in the region at the end of the Late Pleistocene , around 12,000 years ago. The term tapir comes from the Portuguese-language words tapir , tapira , which themselves trace their origins back to Old Tupi , specifically

1776-601: The Potaro River ) along the route of the Essequibo, and its 20-kilometre (12 mi) wide estuary is dotted with numerous small islands. It enters the Atlantic 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Georgetown , the capital city of Guyana. The river features Murrays Fall , Pot Falls, Kumaka Falls, and Waraputa Falls. Its many tributaries include the Rupununi , Potaro, Mazaruni , Siparuni , Kuyuwini , Konawaruk and Cuyuni rivers. For over 30 kilometres (19 mi) from its mouth,

1850-734: The Quaternary extinction event around 12,000 years ago, along with most of the other large mammals of the Americas, co-inciding with the first arrival of humans to the continent. Tapirus augustus (formerly placed in Megatapirus ), native to Southeast and East Asia, substantially larger than the Malayan tapir, also became extinct at some point during the Late Pleistocene. Many primitive tapirs were originally classified under Palaeotapirus including members of Paratapirus and Plesiotapirus , but

1924-636: The Takutu Formation . To the north of the Takutu Graben almost flat lying Statherian sandstones and conglomerates of the Roraima Group sediments overly Iwokrama Formation felsic volcanics and associated Orosirian granites. Relict Hadean zircons (xenocrysts) in the Iwokrama Formation suggest that older crust must occur at depth. The areas both in and surrounding the Rupununi river are home to

1998-471: The flehmen response , a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth to detect scents. This response is frequently exhibited by bulls sniffing for signs of other males or females in oestrus in the area. The length of the proboscis varies among species; Malayan tapirs have the longest snouts and Brazilian tapirs have the shortest. The evolution of tapir probosces, made up almost entirely of soft tissues rather than bony internal structures, gives

2072-532: The lowland tapir in the Atlantic Forest is at risk of complete extinction as a result of anthropogenic pressures, in particular hunting , deforestation and population isolation. Tapirs originated from the " tapiroids ", a group of primitive perissodactyls that inhabited North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch, with tapirs probably originating from the family Helaletidae . The oldest known members of

2146-491: The 1930s - 1970s. Notable species include: The Rupununi is home to relatively healthy populations of the South America's giant mammals, including the largest feline terrestrial predators, the jaguar and the puma. Both the jaguar and the puma are extremely elusive cats, adept at hunting anything from turtles to domesticated dogs. However they are seen as threats to livestock, and are hunted, which has ultimately resulted in

2220-618: The 19th century ended the missionary settlements. At this time, Britain needed to have a colony, besides Trinidad, to serve the large trade sailboats on their large travel trading route around South America. Venezuela claims that the Essequibo is the true border between it and Guyana, claiming all territory west of it. The boundary was set between Venezuela and Guyana's then colonial power, Great Britain in 1899 through an arbitration proceeding. A letter written by Venezuela's legal counsel, named partner Severo Mallet-Prevost of New York City law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle alleged that

2294-621: The Asian animal. However, geographic proximity is not an absolute predictor of genetic similarity; for instance, G-banded preparations have revealed Malayan, Baird's and South American tapirs have identical X chromosomes , while mountain tapirs are separated by a heterochromatic addition/deletion. Lack of genetic diversity in tapir populations has become a major source of concern for conservationists. Habitat loss has isolated already small populations of wild tapirs, putting each group in greater danger of dying out completely. Even in zoos, genetic diversity

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2368-464: The Dutch colonial era. Sloth Island is an eco-tourism island in the river. The main tributaries from the mouth: tributary tributary (km) (km ) (m /s) The river has a very rich fauna. More than 300 fish species are known from the Essequibo basin , including almost 60 endemics . This may be an underestimate of the true diversity, as parts of the basin are poorly known. For example, surveys of

2442-478: The Essequibo' followed the main channel and investigated tributaries until they reached the watershed. There, 20 metres away from the Brazilian border, they logged what is now acknowledged to be the furthest source of the Essequibo River. GPS co-ordinates: N1° 24.5243' , W59° 16.5107' The team then began their world-first descent of the Essequibo River. The team of nine paddled back to Kanashan, aka Gunns Strip, where

2516-627: The Kuyuwini, Kassikaityu, Kamoa and Sipu rivers, as well as the Chadikar River which on the basis of its north-south trend and a larger flow of water is considered to be the source of the Essiquibo rather than the eastward flowing Sipu River. In his memoirs Richard Johnson records how he had a line cut through the forest to a small hill near the Chodikar headwaters so that he could stand on the border defined by

2590-430: The Rupununi and is the largest aerial predator in South America. The critically endangered Red Siskin is one of the many species of bird that was rediscovered in the Rupununi river region. A 253,800 ha site in the south central Rupununi catchment has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a population of red siskins. Notable species include: Reptiles thrive in

2664-432: The Rupununi river as being "very diverse"."The Northern Rupununi has more than fourteen hundred species of vertebrates, more than twenty-eight hundred species of plants, and countless species of invertebrates" (Rupununi, Rediscovering a Lost World ). The largely undisturbed forest along the Rupununi river, is a haven for birdlife. A biodiversity study conducted by BAT (South Rupununi Biodiversity Assessment Team), discovered

2738-453: The Rupununi river, preying off of small fish and crustaceans. In another study conducted by the BAT (South Rupununi Biodiversity Assessment Team), it was discovered that 34 different species of reptiles were living along the river. The black caiman is the largest predator in the Rupununi, measuring up to 5 m in length, however it has become endangered due to hunting for their belly skins throughout

2812-541: The Rupununi, surpassing that of French Guiana (298 species) and Suriname (309 species). However, since there is a lack of freshwater fish taxonomists and researchers studying the area, it is estimated that there are at least 600 different species of fish in the Rupununi. Giants also lurk in the waters of the Rupununi. The arapaima (Arapaima) and the Lau-Lau (B. filamentosum) each measuring approximately 2, and in some exceptional cases 4 meters in length, have been found in

2886-643: The Russian and British judges on the tribunal had acted improperly and granted the lion's share of the disputed territory to Britain due to a political deal between Russia and the United Kingdom. As a result, Venezuela has revived its claim to the disputed territory. In August 1995, at Omai mine there was an acid spill in the river by the Canadian gold mining company Cambior . An estimated 4 million cubic metres (140,000,000 cu ft) of waste laced with cyanide

2960-594: The Tapiridae skull a unique form in comparison to other perissodactyls , with a larger sagittal crest , orbits positioned more rostrally, a posteriorly telescoped cranium , and a more elongated and retracted nasoincisive incisure. Tapirs have brachyodont, or low-crowned teeth, that lack cementum . Their dental formula is: Totaling 42 to 44 teeth, this dentition is closer to that of equids, which may differ by one less canine, than their other perissodactyl relatives, rhinoceroses. Their incisors are chisel-shaped, with

3034-760: The Wai Wai members returned home and Romel Shoni and Anthony Shushu joined the expedition. This team, accompanied later further downriver by Fay James ( Macushi people), then paddled the remaining distance to the mouth of the Essequibo where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. This expedition lasted a total of 10 weeks. Team members: Laura Bingham (expedition leader), Ness Knight, Pip Stewart, Peiman Zekavat (film director), Jon Williams (cameraman), Nereus Chekema, Nigel Isaacs, Jackson (Elijah) Marawanaru, Aron Marawanaru, James Suse, Fay James, Romel Shoni, and Anthony Shushu. Tapir Tapirs ( / ˈ t eɪ p ər / TAY -pər ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to

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3108-471: The abundance of fish, wildlife and forest resources of the area. Sir Walter Raleigh claimed that the Rupununi was where the famed El Dorado was situated, however he never explored the river. Other early explorers such as Charles Waterton and Robert Schomburgk attempted to locate El Dorado , and successfully managed to visit the supposed location of the South-American myth, which is in fact part of

3182-729: The cage at the time). In 2006, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi (who was then the Costa Rican Environmental Minister) became lost in the Corcovado National Park and was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir. In 2013, a two-year-old girl suffered stomach and arm injuries after being mauled by a South American tapir in Dublin Zoo during a supervised experience in the tapir enclosure. Dublin Zoo pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and

3256-596: The course of the Rupununi river. Before the colonization of Guyana and the Rupununi region, the Makushi Amerindians, Wai-Wai and the Wapishana all inhabited the area. The Makushi migrated from what is now known as modern Brazil and Venezuela, to the northern areas of the Rupununi river, over four-hundred years ago. The Makushi Amerindians continue to live in the Rio Branco savannahs and northern Rupununi, surviving off of

3330-471: The environment and wildlife in the Rupununi. Ecotourism in the Rupununi is an important part of Guyana's economy, especially for the local Amerindian people. There are many ranches and lodges such as the Karanambu Ranch, a protected area for giant otters and other endangered species in the Rupununi, started by Tiny McTurk (1927), that generate revenue from tourists visiting the Rupununi. Near to Karanambu

3404-416: The family Tapiridae . They are similar in shape to a pig , with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America and Southeast Asia . They are one of three extant branches of Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), alongside equines and rhinoceroses . Only a single genus , Tapirus , is currently extant. Tapirs migrated into South America during

3478-624: The family Tapiridae such as Protapirus are known from the Early Oligocene of Europe. The oldest representatives of the modern genus Tapirus appeared in Europe during the Mid- Miocene , with Tapirus dispersing into Asia and North America by the late Miocene. Tapirus became extinct in Europe around the end of the Pliocene . Tapirs dispersed into South America during Pleistocene as part of

3552-508: The four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. The Baird's Tapir Project of Costa Rica, begun in 1994, is the longest ongoing tapir project in the world. It involves placing radio collars on tapirs in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park to study their social systems and habitat preferences. The Lowland Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative

3626-465: The front feet and three on the hind feet, which help them to walk on muddy and soft ground. Baby tapirs of all types have striped-and-spotted coats for camouflage . Females have a single pair of mammary glands, and males have long penises relative to their body size. The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible organ, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit

3700-484: The hovercraft were laid down at intervals ahead of the expedition, by boat on the Rio Negro, by plane in the North Savannas and by float-plane on the Essequibo. As there were no reliable maps of the route, navigation in Guyana was done by 1:60,000 scale aerial photographs and by scouting rapids in a motorised inflatable dinghy ahead of the CC7. This was the first expedition to travel by river, land, and sea from Manaus to Georgetown,

3774-465: The most remote corners of the Rupununi river. However, these river monsters are seldom seen and are rarely ever caught. Overexploitation and overfishing have forced these two species of fish to migrate deeper into unexplored territory in the Rupununi. Notable species include: Indigenous peoples have been part of the Rupununi landscape for millennia. Anthropologists have discovered Paleo-Indian petroglyphs, dated to be several thousands of years old along

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3848-427: The northern Rupununi. However they never found El Dorado . Guyana is a developing country that lacks sustainable economic, environmental and investment growth. Exploiting the Rupununi's resources through corporate agriculture, mining and petroleum extraction are potential pathways that Guyana could undertake. Extant roads such as the one connecting the Rupununi and the state of Roraima are being upgraded to travel all

3922-492: The original diagnostic material of the genus was too poor to characterize, leading to included species being moved to new genera. M. harrisonensis N. robustus P. intermedius P. yagii P. simplex Giant tapir ( T. augustus ) [REDACTED] Cope's tapir ( T. haysii ) [REDACTED] T. veroensis Size varies between types, but most tapirs are about 2 m ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2  ft) long, stand about 1 m ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 4  ft) high at

3996-643: The rainy season it is connected to the Takutu River by the flooded Pirara Creek, draining the vast swamps of the Parima or Amaku Lake. The region surrounding the Rupununi river is composed of mainly savannah, wetlands, forest, and low mountain ranges. The area of Region 9 is 57,750 square kilometers and has over 80 communities. Most people live within the Rupununi Savannah area, while the jungle covered areas are only populated near major rivers. The geology of this area

4070-570: The rainy season when the dirt roads degrade, and may be impossible. Rock View Lodge and The Pakaraima Mountain Inn are both near Annai 3–5 hours from Lethem. The Rupununi / Lethem Rodeo is a tourist attraction at Easter (during the dry season). 7°N 2°E  /  7°N 02°E  / 7; 02 Essequibo River (Period: 1971–2000)5,043.9 m /s (178,120 cu ft/s) The Essequibo River ( Spanish : Río Esequibo ; originally called by Alonso de Ojeda ; Río Dulce )

4144-561: The region of the Essequibo River that later became part of British Guiana . The Dutch colonists remained on friendly terms with the Native American peoples of the area, establishing riverside sugarcane and tobacco plantations . The Dutch deterred many attacks from the British, French and Spanish for nearly two centuries, though they would later cede their territory to the British in 1814. The Independence war of Venezuela beginning in

4218-567: The river is argued over by Venezuela and Guyana. The river is administered by Guyana after being previously colonized by the British . Historically, Venezuela has claimed the Essequibo River as their most eastern border, though in practice it was under Dutch control . The river runs through the Guianan moist forests ecoregion. The average annual rainfall in the catchment area is 2,174 mm. There are many rapids and waterfalls (e.g., Kaieteur Falls on

4292-411: The river's channel is divided by the large flat and fertile islands of Leguan , about 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi), Wakenaam , about 44 square kilometres (17 sq mi), and Hogg Island , about 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi). Fort Island is off the eastern side of Hogg Island . Fort Zeelandia is located on the island, and was the seat of government of the country during

4366-450: The shoulder, and weigh between 150 and 300 kg (330 and 660 lb). Their coats are short and range in colour from reddish brown, to grey, to nearly black, with the notable exceptions of the Malayan tapir, which has a white, saddle-shaped marking on its back, and the mountain tapir, which has longer, woolly fur. All tapirs have oval, white-tipped ears, rounded, protruding rumps with stubby tails, and splayed, hooved toes, with four toes on

4440-516: The source at 0°41`northern latitude, while not giving a longitude. In 1908 the German-American ichthyologist Carl H. Eigenmann traveled on river Essequibo and confluent Potaro. He described 336 fish species in these rivers. As part of a British Technical Assistance project "Operation El Dorado", geologists Dr. Jevan P. Berrangé and Dr. Richard L. Johnson made the first topographic and geological maps of Guyana south of latitude 4 degrees north. They examined 1:60,000 scale panchromatic aerial photos with

4514-413: The species most isolated geographically and genetically, has a significantly smaller number of chromosomes and has been found to share fewer homologies with the three types of American tapirs. A number of conserved autosomes (13 between karyotypes of Baird's tapir and the South American tapir, and 15 between Baird's and the mountain tapir) have also been found in the American species that are not found in

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4588-421: The support of the First Lady, Sandra Granger , a group consisting of five Wai-wai , two English, one Iranian, and one South African located the furthest source of the Essequibo River. They built upon information and experience from the above 2013 Guyanese German expedition alongside topographical maps, local Wai Wai knowledge, GPS, and machetes to follow the Sipu River to its source. The multinational team 'Running

4662-410: The term tapi'ira code: tpw is deprecated . This word, according to Eduardo de Almeida Navarro , referred in a more precise manner to the species Tapirus terrestris . There are four widely recognized extant species of tapir, all in the genus Tapirus of the family Tapiridae . They are the South American tapir , the Malayan tapir , Baird's tapir , and the mountain tapir . In 2013,

4736-425: The thick undergrowth of the forest or in water. Hunting for meat and hides has substantially reduced their numbers and, more recently, habitat loss has resulted in the conservation watch-listing of all four species; the Brazilian tapir is classified as vulnerable, and Baird's tapir, the mountain tapir, and the Malayan tapir are endangered. According to 2022 study published in the Neotropical Biology and Conservation ,

4810-443: The third large, conical upper incisor separated by a short gap from the considerably smaller canine. A much longer gap is found between the canines and premolars, the first of which may be absent. Tapirs are lophodonts , and their cheek teeth have distinct lophs (ridges) between protocones, paracones, metacones and hypocones. Tapirs have brown eyes, often with a bluish cast to them, which has been identified as corneal cloudiness,

4884-551: The two systems. The first European discovery was by the ships of Juan de Esquivel , deputy of Don Diego Columbus , son of Christopher Columbus in 1498. The Essequibo River is named after Esquivel. In 1499, Amerigo Vespucci and Alonso de Ojeda explored the mouths of the Orinoco and allegedly were the first Europeans to explore the Essequibo. Alonso de Ojeda called it "Rio Dulce" which means Sweet River in Spanish . In 1596 Lawrence Kemys , serving as second-in-command of Walter Raleigh 's British expedition to Guiana, led

4958-401: The upper Mazaruni River found 36–39 species (variation in number due to taxonomy ), of which 13–25% still were undescribed in 2013. At least 24 fish species are restricted to Mazaruni River alone. During floods the headwaters of the Branco River (a part of the Amazon basin ) and those of the Essequibo are connected, allowing a level of exchange in the aquatic fauna such as fish between

5032-437: The watershed, and when he told his line-cutting team that they were looking south across the forest into Brazil his foreman disagreed on the basis that "there are lots of nightclubs in Brazil." After mapping the tributaries the two teams joined forces and travelled down the Essequibo to its confluence with the Rupununi river at Apoteri. On February 26, 1971, an expedition set off by hovercraft from Manaus in Brazil where

5106-478: The way to Georgetown . A bridge has also been constructed on the Guyana-Brazil border, that links Lethem (Guyana) to Bonfim (Brazil). This infrastructure will facilitate the transportation of goods throughout the area, however it poses a threat to the Rupununi's fragile eco-system. In order to formally protect the Rupununi's eco-system, NGO's and the Guyanese government have partnered up to attempt to enforce legislation to ban any prejudicial human activity towards

5180-413: The wild, the tapir's diet consists of fruit, berries, and leaves, particularly young, tender vegetation. Tapirs will spend many of their waking hours foraging along well-worn trails, snouts to the ground in search of food. Baird's tapirs have been observed to eat around 40 kg (85 lb) of vegetation in one day. Tapirs are largely nocturnal and crepuscular , although the smaller mountain tapir of

5254-499: Was Prof. Dr. Martin Oczipka from the University of Applied Sciences Dresden (HTW Dresden). The expedition was only realizable with the support of the Guyanese government and the indigenous tribe of Wai-Wai-Amerindian settling in the very south of Guyana. With the support of the Wai-Wai, satellite maps, topographic maps, GPS and a small drone, the source valley was discovered in 2013. The coordinate determined by expedition teams in 2013 deviates by approximately 40`, which corresponds to

5328-432: Was ordered to pay €5,000 to charity. However, such examples are rare; for the most part, tapirs are likely to avoid confrontation in favour of running from predators, hiding, or, if possible, submerging themselves in nearby water until a threat is gone. Frank Buck wrote about an attack by a tapir in 1926, which he described in his book, Bring 'Em Back Alive . Tapirs feature in the folklore of several cultures around

5402-575: Was released into the river causing much destruction. The spill was preceded by a smaller sodium cyanide spill in May that killed hundreds of fish. Sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society the German researcher Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804-1865) investigated the river Essequibo and followed its course to the south-west, while Sipu River flows to a westerly direction. He specified the coordinates of

5476-808: Was then traversed down to its mouth near Georgetown . The primary purpose of the expedition was filming for the BBC series " The World About Us " with the episode "The Forbidden Route" broadcast in November 1971. The secondary purpose was to demonstrate the abilities of a new type of small hovercraft, the Cushioncraft CC7 , thereby promoting sales of this British invention. The expedition team comprised Bob Saunders (BBC producer and team leader), Tommy Tomlinson (CC7 pilot), Jevan Berrangé (navigator and logistics consultant), Len Chrisophers (hovercraft engineer), Peter Smith (sound recordist), and Tony Morrison (cameraman). Fuel dumps for

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