Patrícia Medici: The coolest animal you know nothing about ... and how we can save it
Patricia Medici: El animal más genial del que no sabemos nada ... y cómo podemos salvarlo
Patrícia Medici leads the longest running conservation project to protect the threatened lowland tapir. Full bio
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on the face of the Earth.
sorprendentes sobre la faz de la tierra.
in the animal kingdom.
the past 20 years of my life
de los tapires en Brasil,
of tapirs in Brazil,
I've been thinking really, really hard
about the real contributions I have made
la contribución real que he hecho
que tanto amo.
of these animals I love so much.
and contributing to their conservation,
contribuyendo a su conservación,
so many different conservation crises.
diferentes en conservación.
todos los días.
It's all over the news every day.
tropicales y otros ecosistemas,
are being destroyed,
a punto de la extinción:
on the brink of extinction:
rinocerontes, tapires.
the tapir species I work with,
la especie con la que trabajo,
más grande de Sudamérica.
of South America.
in tropical forests such as the Amazon,
tropicales como el Amazonas,
de grandes áreas de hábitat
large patches of habitat
para reproducirse y sobrevivir.
they need to reproduce and survive.
de su distribución geográfica.
parts of their geographic distribution.
muy lamentable
very, very unfortunate
para los hábitats donde se ubican.
for the habitats where they are found.
consiste en frutas,
consists of fruit,
tragan las semillas,
they swallow the seeds,
a través de sus heces.
the habitat through their feces.
in shaping and maintaining
para moldear y mantener
as gardeners of the forest.
como los jardineros del bosque.
afectaría seriamente
would seriously affect
still very young, fresh out of college,
aún muy joven, recién egresada,
de conservación pionero.
and conservation program.
nula sobre los tapires,
zero information about tapirs,
son difíciles de estudiar.
so difficult to study.
y unos animales muy escurridizos;
very elusive animals,
very basic data about these animals.
muy básicos de estos animales.
that a conservationist does?
un conservacionista hace?
para apoyar la labor de conservación,
to support conservation action,
muy difíciles de estudiar,
are very hard to study,
indirectos para estudiarlos.
on indirect methods to study them.
collares GPS en sus cuellos
around their necks
otros conservacionistas en el mundo.
other conservationists around the world.
about how they use space,
sobre cómo usan el espacio,
sobre los tapires
personas en el mundo
how many people around the world
this is a tapir.
creen que este es un tapir.
Jamás. Nunca.
training, capacity building.
fomentar la capacitación.
a los conservacionistas del futuro.
the conservationists of the future.
en la conservación,
conservation battles,
haciendo lo que hacemos,
y la pasión para hacerlo.
and they need the passion to do that.
los conservacionistas,
nuestra información,
conocimiento acumulado
de conservación real.
del mundo.
biomes in the world.
llegaron a Brasil,
first arrived in Brazil,
en la parte este de Sudamérica.
in the eastern part of South America.
arrasado en su mayoría
and the construction of cities,
ganadería y la construcción de ciudades.
of the Atlantic forest
isolated, disconnected populations.
desconectadas y aisladas muy pequeñas.
that tapirs move through open areas
ellos se mueven a través de áreas abiertas
to patch of forest.
en esta región
para ubicar los posibles lugares
to identify the potential places
de vida silvestre
of wildlife corridors
cruzar el territorio con seguridad.
could cross the landscape safely.
conservation efforts to the Pantanal
de conservación al Pantanal
con Bolivia y Paraguay.
freshwater floodplain in the world,
agua dulce en el mundo,
para los tapires en Sudamérica.
for lowland tapirs in South America.
has been extremely refreshing
extremadamente refrescante
de tapires saludables en el área,
healthy tapir populations in the area,
que se podrían encontrar,
we'll ever find,
we are using another technique:
GPS, estamos usando otra técnica:
un sensor de movimiento
with a movement sensor
frente a ella.
when they walk in front of it.
geniales dispositivos,
valiosos datos
to gather precious information
and social organization
y su organización social,
pieces of the puzzle
del rompecabezas
estas estrategias de conservación.
those conservation strategies.
nuestro trabajo una vez más
we are expanding our work once again
de arbustos en la parte central de Brasil.
in the central part of Brazil.
of economic development in my country,
del desarrollo económico de mi país,
comunidades de vida silvestre
and wildlife populations
varias amenazas diferentes,
by several different threats,
caña de azúcar y soya,
solo para nombrar algunos.
aún están ahí,
este nuevo programa en el Cerrado
this new program in the Cerrado
along the highways
a lo largo de las carreteras
in the middle of sugarcane plantations
en medio de plantaciones de caña
saben cómo sabe la carne de tapir
that they know how tapir meat tastes
y los consumen,
made me realize --
me hizo dar cuenta...
de 2 décadas de duro trabajo
two decades of hard work
aún tenemos mucho por hacer
we still have so much work to do
from disappearing.
to solve all these problems.
de resolver estos problemas.
en el mundo de la conservación
in the conservation world
fuera de lo común.
than we are right now.
de lo que ahora somos.
for tapirs in the Cerrado,
un peligro para los tapires en el Cerrado
poner adhesivos reflectores
of putting reflective stickers
a los tapires.
que se usan en los camiones
used on big trucks
las carreteras en la noche,
help drivers see this shining thing
ayuden a los conductores a ver el reflejo
slow down a little bit.
reduce the amount of tapir roadkill.
la cantidad de tapires atropellados.
de cosas que necesiten hacerse.
the kind of stuff that needs to be done.
with all these questions
con todas estas cuestiones
colaboradores detrás de mí,
of supporters behind me,
I'm ever going to stop.
probablemente por el resto de mi vida.
most probably for the rest of my life.
for Patrícia, my namesake,
por Patricia, mi tocaya,
y cuidamos en el bosque atlántico
and monitored in the Atlantic Forest
in the Pantanal.
a baby tapir we captured
un bebé tapir capturado
también en el Pantanal.
also in the Pantanal.
he tenido el placer de conocer
that I've had the pleasure to meet
que encontraré en el futuro.
I will encounter in the future.
deserve to live in a world
merecemos vivir en un mundo
ver y beneficiarnos
and see and benefit from
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Patrícia Medici - Wildlife conservationistPatrícia Medici leads the longest running conservation project to protect the threatened lowland tapir.
Why you should listen
Patrícia Medici is a Brazilian conservation biologist whose main professional interests are tapir conservation, tropical forest conservation, metapopulation management, landscape ecology and community-based conservation.
For the past 20 years, Patrícia has been working for a Brazilian non-governmental organization called IPÊ, Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research), of which she was one of the founding members together with Cláudio and Suzana Padua. Since 1996, Patrícia has coordinated the Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative in Brazil. Since 2000, Patrícia has been the Chairperson of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group (TSG), a network of over 120 tapir conservationists from 27 different countries worldwide.
Patrícia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Forestry Sciences from the São Paulo University (USP – Universidade de São Paulo), a Masters Degree in Wildlife Ecology, Conservation and Management from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Brazil, and a Ph.D. Degree in Biodiversity Management from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent, United Kingdom.
Patrícia has been honored with three very prestigious conservation awards: Harry Messel Conservation Leadership Award from the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2004, Golden Ark Award from the Golden Ark Foundation in the Netherlands in 2008, and Whitley Award from the Whitley Fund for Nature in the United Kingdom also in 2008. Patrícia received the 2011 Research Prize from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) of the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.
Patrícia Medici | Speaker | TED.com