Abstract
BackgroundWild and domestic animals and their by-products are important ingredients in the preparation of curative, protective and preventive medicines. Despite the medicinal use of animals worldwide, this topic has received less attention than the use of medicinal plants. This study assessed the medicinal use of animals by mestizo communities living near San Guillermo MaB Reserve by addressing the following questions: What animal species and body parts are used? What ailments or diseases are treated with remedies from these species? To what extent do mestizo people use animals as a source of medicine? Is the use related to people’s age?MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 171 inhabitants (15–93 years old) of four villages close to the Reserve: Tudcúm, Angualasto, Malimán and Colangüil. We calculated the informant consensus factor and fidelity level to test homogeneity of knowledge and to know the importance of different medicinal uses for a given species.ResultsThe medicinal use of animals was reported by 57% of the surveyed people. Seven species were mentioned: Rhea pennata, Lama guanicoe, Puma concolor, Pseudalopex sp., Lama vicugna, Lepus europaeus and Conepatus chinga. Several body parts were used: fat, leg, bezoar-stone, stomach, feather, meat, blood, feces, wool, and liver. The fat of R. pennata was the most frequently used animal part, followed by the bezoar stone and the leg of L. guanicoe. Animals were used to treat 22 ailments, with respiratory and nervous system disorders being the most frequently treated diseases with a high degree of consensus. Old people used animals as remedies more frequently than young residents, showing some differences among villages.ConclusionsA low number of animal species was mentioned as used for medicinal purposes, which could be explained by the perception of strong control related the legislation that bans hunting and the erosion of traditional knowledge produced by mestizaje. However, the presence of a traditional medicine is deeply rooted in the community culture. Management strategy for protected areas should focus not only on the conservation and sustainability of biological resources, but also on the ancestral knowledge of local communities, such as the medicinal use of animals.
Highlights
Wild and domestic animals and their by-products are important ingredients in the preparation of curative, protective and preventive medicines
The results clearly indicate the presence of a traditional medicine deeply rooted in the community culture, coexisting with the conventional medicine offered through a hospital located in a close city (Rodeo; 34 km from the farthest village), and through health care centres, run by physicians and sanitary agents, located in Tudcum and Angualasto
In this diverse sanitary context, the number of used species recorded in the present study was slightly higher than the number reported by rural populations in drylands of Argentina, such as the Chaco ecoregion [20], and lower than the numbers used by indigenous population in the Chaco (15 and 72 species, respectively) [21,22], in the Puna (17 species) [3], and in the semi-arid region of the northeastern Brazil (25 species); [11]
Summary
Wild and domestic animals and their by-products are important ingredients in the preparation of curative, protective and preventive medicines. The complex past and current relationships between people and natural resources are extremely important to human societies These interactions can be studied from an ethnobiological perspective, considering, for instance, the use of wildlife for subsistence and commercial purposes [1]. Wild and domestic animals and their by-products (e.g., hooves, skins, bones, feathers, tusks) are important ingredients in the preparation of curative, protective and preventive medicines [5]. This use of animals as remedies is an extremely old practice, probably related to an animal-based diet as well as to the ritual ingestion of the recently deceased in ancient cultures [6].
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