Use of fauna in the traditional medicine of native Toba (qom) from the Argentine Gran Chaco region: an ethnozoological and conservationist approach

Abstract

The Gran Chaco region is an area of vast cultural and biological richness that is inhabited by different American indigenous hunter-gatherer groups and has a great number of threatened wildlife species. An ethnozoological investigation was carried out to study the medicinal uses of fauna by the Toba (qom) communities of Central Chaco in the surroundings of the Bermejito River. Qualitative, quantitative and participative methods were used alternately to document and characterize the knowledge, significance and role of animals from the Chaco forest within the Toba cultural and medical context. A total of 199 uses corresponding to 72 species belonging to 52 families were documented as part of the animal pharmacopoeia employed by the natives. Information obtained by open and semistructured interviews was used to develop an Index of Local Conservation Priorities (ILCP) that allowed ordering the species according to their Relative Importance, Ecological and Cultural Value, and Conservation Status. Our results showed that of the wide range of species used in Toba zootherapy, a substantial number of reptiles, mammals and birds are included in lists of threatened species for Argentina. The ethnozoological perspective of this study provides an integral view of social and ecological elements that are useful for the protection and/or sustainable management of native species on a regional scale.

Cultural keystone species of fauna as a method for assessing conservation priorities in a Protected Area of the Brazilian semiarid

“…The parts mentioned by respondents were horn, leather, tail, shin, liver, fat (lard), urine, feces and feather, with lard being the most used as zootherapeutic (6 recommendations for use; 37.5% of recommendations), used to treat 10 kinds of diseases, especially respiratory (asthma, otitis, sore throat) and muscle diseases (rheumatism and swelling in the legs). This finding is consistent with the work of Ferreira et al (2009) and Vasconcelos-Neto et al (2012), which refer to lard as the raw material most used in the treatment and cure of various diseases; this was also recorded by Martínez (2013) for the communities of Toba, Argentina. In the studied communities, there was a smaller number of vertebrate species used for medicinal purposes than in other areas of the caatinga biome.…”

“…In other studies, these species have records of therapeutic indications , Martínez 2013. However, except for the use of lard of S. merianae, there is no pharmacological evidence for the effectiveness of other uses.…”

“…Studies in ethnozoology conducted in different cultural contexts, such as in rural (Torres et al 2009) and indigenous communities (Martínez 2013), have shown that a species is considered important when a utility value is assigned to it.…”

Conservation of animals traded for medicinal purposes in Brazil: Can products derived from plants or domestic animals replace products of wild animals?

“…Animals and plants have been used as raw material for the production of drugs in traditional medicine in several countries Alves and Alves 2011;Ceuterick et al 2008;Martinez 2013;Pieroni et al 2011). This way of using nature has perpetuated over the centuries, and consequently, humans have accumulated a large amount of knowledge with regard the therapeutic properties of animals and plants .…”

“…In these areas, medicinal plants stand out for the high number of species (Monteiro et al 2010a), but animal by-products also represent an extensive part of the medicinal goods Ferreira et al 2013;Martinez 2013;Whiting et al 2011).…”