The Tapir (Tapirus terristris)
Tapirs are big mammals, up to 600 pounds, the largest terrestrial animal in the region.
They are vegetarians and eat many different kinds of fruits, nuts and especially leaves.
They only eat a few from any one tree because of the alkaloids, a chemical that plants
produce as a method of self-defense and healing. By the way, these same alkaloids are
what the indians use to make Curare, a tranquilizer with which they use to coat their
hunting darts.
These crepuscular animals range from high jungle to low jungle areas.
Although they are seldom active during the daylight hours they can sometimes be
"jumped up" from their sleep. That is to say, that you can be walking through the jungle
and walk near one of them and they will jump up from its sleep and startle you!
They are naturally aquatic, they love the water.
The head of a tapir is characterized by a short, flexible trunk.
Besides man and loss of habitat, jaguars are its primary predator.
Tapirs have poor vision, but have good hearing, excellent smell and can run very fast.
It is always fun to see the babies. They are spotted and striped for camouflage and are
very cute. Indians sometimes keep baby tapirs for pets, like a big pig.
On several occasions I had been offered tapir meat as a guest of an Indian host.
The first time I obliged out of politeness. The rest of the other times I dug right in
because it is so good! We occasionally see groups of tapirs in the late afternoon or
early morning swimming the rivers or crossing a trail. We always see the tracks and
other signs that let us know they are here!

CURARE
(He who it comes to must fall)
by Richard Fowler (aka Aukcoo)
Curare, also known as Ampi, can kill or cure. Indigenous people in all
tropical regions of the world can make effective arrow and dart poisons from
hundreds of varieties of plants, as well as animal and insect toxins. I have
studied some of these compounds and they are very lethal.
Here in the Amazon we have such a bounty of plants so rich in alkaloids that
an effective survival curare can be made by boiling down several kilos of any
combination of 20 different species (known and unknown species) of jungle
leaves. Once it becomes a thick syrupy tar it will most likely be to bring down
anything from a monkey to man. I call this "Martha Stewart Curare".
However, the indigenous Amazonian knows just what to look for and use. They
make a curare for hunting game and a curare for killing humans (a war curare),
and the recipes vary regionally and individually.
For the hunting curare the first plant they will look for is what they call
ampihuasca (Chondrodendron tomentosum), the moonseed vine. A Vine from which
they obtain the bark where the alkaloids are most concentrated, like
tubocarirene, used in medicine, especially used for open heart surgery.
The next plant they will include is the Strychnine plant, "Strycns Guinesis".
There are over a dozen species of this plant found all over the Amazon. The
active ingrediant is strychnine, tubocarirene and toucine. As if this weren't
enough they will include sacha ampihuasca (Curarea toxifera), active compounds
include curine, curarine, isochondenrine and tocicopherine. Once cooked down the
substance has a powerful tranquilizer effect. A small dose can put a large
animal or a human down for 15-20 minutes. A stronger dose can kill.
First aid for wounds of this sort would include eating salt and rubbing salt
directly on the wound. Artificial respiration may be necessary in the case of
respiratory failure, which must continue for approximately 15-20 minutes, or
until the poison wears off. An antidote would be a common drug known as
prostigmin, a perfect neutralizer.
For the war curare (for killing people) the process of poison preparation
becomes more complicated as a medicine man gets involved and their shamonic
meanery opens up a bag of real dirty tricks.
All kinds of biting and stinging poisons are added like, bees, scorpions,
wasp, fire ants, the big bullet ant (Panaponera), the whole heads of venomous
snakes, blood, hair, spiders and poison frogs.
Most are not necessary exceptas a way of augmenting the prestige of the
medicine man, enhancing the confidence of the warriors and confusing anyone
wanting to copy the solution.
The poison from dart frongs, Dendrobates and Phyllobates, have some of the
most powerful toxins found in natue, and spell death if this gets in your blood
stream. They are used for killing. The most dangerous of these frogs are found
in Costa Rica, Columbia and Ecuador. I have seen Huaorni Indians in Ecuador just
use frog poison for hunting their prey. Note that one generation out of the
wild, captive bred poison arrow frogs are not toxic at all.
On one trip to visit my friends, the Matese (also known as Mayaruna or cat
people), I was invited to join a characteristic frog poison ordeal in which a
beautiful frog, "Phyllomedusa bicolor", is used to obtain a mild poison, but
loaded with peptids and amino acids. The Matese burn the surface of the skin and
smear the poison on the burn. I'm one who believes in abuse in moedration so I
Opted for 8 "pops" of this ordeal. The Matese hunters do anywhere from 5 to 10
pops! Within 2 minutes I felt my whole nervous system shutting down and went to
the ground. The sensation cleared quickly and I was ready for a ten day hunt
with my Matese friends.
The frog ordeal has been used by the Matese to make them feel stronger and
better hunters (they are some of the best). The frog ordeal has never been
known to kill anyone. For me it was a near death experience without the pain of
death. I would think a man or animal hit with a dose of curare would have the
same shut down effect (maybe not a bad way to go).
The dart is fashioned out of a sliver of palm or bamboo. A wad of cotton is
taken from the seed of the kapoc tree and used on one end to create compression
in the blow pipe. The "business" end is grooved to hold more poison and dried
near a fire. A ring is cut around the shaft behind the point so as to break off
under any stress. The broken point with the poison styays in the creture.
Medical sciende has been able to isolate the various compounds for medical use
in saving lives. Curare has been used in modern medicine since the early 40's.
It has a muscle relaxing effect and east to control so doctors don't have to use
as much anasthesia in surgery, especially open heart surgery.
One of the most important reasons for protecting the Amazon Rain Forest is for
all the medicine we don't even know about yet. There is so much to learn and
discover.
I learn new things everytime I go to the jungle. If you are interested in one
of my next trips please contac me. The Naturalist, Richard "AUKCOO" Fowler.