In 1980, Dr. Keith Williams from Australia was appointed the founding chairperson of the Tapir Specialist Group following his work with Tapirus indicus in Malaysia in 1975-1976 and continued input to the Red Data Book over subsequent years. The group commenced work with five members from Australia, Indonesia, Costa Rica and the USA. Williams’s research work in Costa Rica, funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society (then Wildlife Conservation, NYZS), was the first extensive study of any tapir species.

In September 1990, Sharon Matola took over the Chair from Keith Williams. With funding support from the Wildlife Preservation Trust International, now EcoHealth Alliance, she created the Tapir Conservation newsletter. The first six issues of the newsletter were published working from a manual typewriter in Sharon’s office at the Belize Zoo. The magazine soon became a valuable forum for making SSC group known to other members. Under her direction, the Tapir Action Plan was written, and was published in 1997.

Today, the TSG has over 140 members, including field researchers, educators, veterinarians, governmental agencies and NGO representatives, zoo personnel, university professors and students, from 28 countries worldwide (Argentina, Australia, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela). All members are directly or indirectly involved in tapir field research and/or captive breeding in their respective regions. Over fifty percent of our members hail from developing countries.