Tiger Becomes Termite Hill: Soliga/Solega Perceptions of Wildlife Interactions and Ecological Change

Abstract

The Solega community living in the Biligiri Rangan Hills (B. R. Hills) of Karnataka State, southern India, have noticed significant changes to the ecosystem of their forest homeland over the last four or five decades. Originally hunter-gatherers, who carried out swidden agriculture at a subsistence level, they were forced to abandon the semi-nomadic ways of their ancestors, and settle in permanent villages when these forests were first declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1974. In this paper, we present the views of Solega elders on the ecological changes that have taken place in the B. R. Hills, along with the subsequent changes in their interactions with the animals that also inhabit this landscape. The Solega way of life is accustomed to co-existing with wildlife, and they worship several animal deities. Their folklore and traditional ecological knowledge are also replete with ways of avoiding dangerous encounters with wildlife. Many of the detrimental ecological changes observed by Solega people are ascribed by them to the halting of their traditional litter fire regime, and the subsequent rampant growth of the exotic invasive plant Lantana camara, which now dominates the understorey in large swathes of the forest. These factors combine, according to Solega elders, to negatively impact the well-being of both animals as well as their own people. We hope to demonstrate how a deeper understanding of Solega language and culture, both essential facets of everyday life, as well as of their traditional ecological knowledge—can allow a full appreciation of the interactions between small Indigenous communities, such as the Solega, and the natural environment. We argue for a greater appreciation of, and engagement with, Indigenous knowledge in conservation efforts in countries such as India, where the protection of charismatic species, such as tigers, is often perceived to be at odds with the rights of small minority groups, such as the Solega.

Changing natures: a perspective on youth and conservation futures

“…Ecological studies and oral histories from BRT have shown forest change over the last few decades, due to erratic rainfall, climate change, and the widespread growth of invasive species such as Lantana camara (Sundaram et al, 2012). These changes have led to a sizeable loss of biodiversity, affecting access to the forest and the availability of forest produce, foods and medicinal plants historically used by Soligas (Agnihotri et al, 2021), who contend that the reduction in forest health is closely correlated to the banning of traditional management practices (Rai et al, 2018, and interview sources). For instance, they believe that traditional practices of burning leaf litter in ground-level fires called taragu benki, will help to reduce the growth of invasive plant species and regenerate the forest.…”

Coexistence for Whom?

“…Ideally, future studies will include a focus (not exclusively) on particular positive interactions and relations. This will extend beyond direct impacts of wildlife on humans and vice versa, and negative interactions, and look harder at nonrational factors influencing decision-making, including cultures and histories of human-wildlife interactions (see Pooley, 2016;Nijhawan and Mihu, 2020;Pooley et al, 2020;Agnihotri et al, 2021;Nair et al, 2021;Oommen, 2021).…”

“…Further, cultures are dynamic, and do not provide static timeless ways of relating to and interpreting the natural world (Dickman et al, 2014;Bobo et al, 2015;Agnihotri et al, 2021;Oommen, 2021). What of people who abandon their traditional beliefs and practices (willingly or through force of circumstance), or hybridize them with other practices, in ways inimical to conservation (Nadasdy, 2005;Dickman et al, 2014)?…”