Abstract

ETHNOZOOLOGICAL STUDY OF ANIMAL-BASED PRODUCTS PRACTICES AMONG TRIBAL INHABITANTS IN KOLLIHILLS, NAMAKKAL DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Latha Raja, Parameswaran Matheswaran, Malathi Anbalagan, Vijayapriya Sureshkumar, Deepa Ganesan and Sharmila Banu Gani*

ABSTRACT

India has an abundance of fauna, and flora with various ethnic communities who are mainly reliant on the conventional medicinal system for their primary health care. Documentation and evaluation of this indigenous remedial information could be supportive to launch new drugs for human health. Hence, the present study proposed to determine the diverse zootherapeutic medicinal uses in the conventional health care system among the tribe inhabitants of Kollihills, Namakkal district, Tamilnadu, India. This study was primarily based on the field survey carried out with the tribes and information collected from around 200 tribes about animals based products used as medicine to prepare the remedies as well as ailments. The field survey was carried out from June 2017 to December 2017 by personal interviews through semi-structured questionnaires. In some cases, where participants were conducted informal interviews and open group discussions. The study related to animal species documented a sum of 45 different species, 45 genera, and 32 families, which are found to be the treatment of 55 different ailments. Mammals occupied the highest uses (36%), followed by Arthropods (24%), birds (16%), reptiles (11%), fishes (7%), annelids (4%), and amphibians (2%). Additionally, zootherapeutic animals and their body parts are known for the treatment of various ailments especially meat or fat (24%), visceral organ (22%), whole body (6%) and blood (5%). These findings recommend that the conventional zootherapeutic remedial measures practiced by the tribes of Kollihills, Namakkal district, plays a vital role in their primary healthiness. The data of this aboriginal information on animal products could be very supportive in the formulation of strategies for ecological management and protection of bio-resources as well as providing the potential for the novel drugs discovery.

Keywords: Ethnozoology, Tribes, Conventional Information, Animal-Based Products, Kollihills.