Elsevier

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 107, Issue 2, 19 September 2006, Pages 259-276
Journal of Ethnopharmacology

From cnidarians to mammals: The use of animals as remedies in fishing communities in NE Brazil

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2006.03.007Get rights and content

Abstract

This work documents zootherapeutic practices in Northeast Brazil. It is primarily based on field surveys carried out in fishing villages located in the states of Maranhão and Paraíba, where 60 respondents (38 men and 22 women) provided information on animal species used as medicine, body parts used to prepare the remedies and illnesses to which the remedies were prescribed. A total of 100 animal species (72 families), distributed in 12 taxonomic categories, was used as medicine. Zootherapeutic resources were used to treat 62 different diseases. The local medicinal fauna is largely based on wild animals, including some endangered species. Threatened species, such as the seahorse (Hippocampus reidi, Ginsburg, 1933) (Syngnathidae) and the green turtle (Chelonia mydas, Linnaeus, 1758) (Cheloniidae) represented important medicinal resources for the studied communities. This shows the need to integrate traditional knowledge into strategies to conserve and manage faunistic resources in Brazil.

Introduction

Naturally occurring substances of plant, animal and mineral origin have provided a continuing source of medicines since the earliest times known to man (David and Anderson, 1969), and their use has been perpetuated through the use of traditional medicines. Traditional forms of medicine have been strongly incorporated by contemporary societies, phytotherapy and zootherapy being among the various therapeutic alternatives used around the globe (Alves and Rosa, 2005).

Animals and plants have been broadly used since ancient times in Brazilian traditional medicine (Almeida, 2005), and have played a significant role in healing practices. This is not surprising given the estimate that Brazil possesses between 15 and 20% of all the world's biological diversity, as well as a significant cultural mega diversity, represented by more than 200 indigenous peoples as well as by a large number of local communities which detain a considerable knowledge of the flora and fauna, and of traditional systems of renewable natural resources management (MMA, 2003). Animal species have been medicinally used in the country by indigenous societies for millennia, and by descendants of the European settlers for the last four centuries (Costa-Neto, 1999a).

Expressions of traditional medicine in the country, particularly of zootherapy, represent an interaction of native, African and European elements, since the beginning of colonization (Almeida, 2005), resulting in a rich ethnomedicine used by people belonging to different social classes in Brazil (Costa-Neto, 1999a). Nevertheless, the use of animal species as remedies, although representing an important component of traditional medicine (sometimes in association with plant species), has been much less studied than medicinal plants in the country. While Calixto (2005) recorded 3722 published full paper on medicinal plants in Brazil, inventories of animal species used as medicine are still relatively rare in the country.

Moreover, a substantial portion of the information available on zootherapeutic practices in Brazil was obtained in the northeastern State of Bahia alone (Costa-Neto, 1996, Costa-Neto, 1999a, Costa-Neto, 1999b, Costa-Neto, 1999c, Costa-Neto, 1999d, Costa-Neto, 2000a, Costa-Neto, 2000b, Costa-Neto, 2001, Costa-Neto, 2002, Costa-Neto and Marques, 2000, Andrade and Costa-Neto, 2005, Costa-Neto and Pacheco, 2005). The remaining brazilian studies were based on field work conducted in the states of Pará (Branch and Silva, 1983, Figueiredo, 1994); Maranhão-Tocantins (Begossi and Braga, 1992); Pernambuco (Almeida and Albuquerque, 2002, Silva et al., 2004, Almeida, 2005); Alagoas (Marques, 1995, Marques and Costa-Neto, 1997); Rio de Janeiro (Seixas and Begossi, 2001); São Paulo (Begossi, 1992).

Regrettably, some of the zootherapeutic resources used in the country are already included in Brazil's official lists of threatened species (IBAMA, 2003, MMA, 2004). As pointed out by Marques (1997), the medical potential of the Brazilian fauna and the possibility of its exhaustion through overexploitation or even species extinction, requires urgently an ecological evaluation of this process by assessing not only its zoological dimension but also its cultural dimension.

Given Brazil's significant cultural and biological diversity, the country can be used as a useful case study to increase our knowledge of faunistic resources used as medicines, and to draw attention to the need to protect traditional knowledge and biodiversity. In that context, the aim of this paper is to document zootherapeutic practices in two fishing communities located in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The study is primarily based on field surveys, and was centered around the following questions: which animal species are used as medicine by the two communities? Which are the body parts used to prepare the remedies? Which are the illnesses treated by the remedies? How are geographical discontinuity and local landscapes reflected in the zootherapeutic practices of the two communities?

Section snippets

APA Barra do rio Mamanguape—Paraíba State

The ‘APA’ Barra do rio Mamanguape has a total area of 14,460 ha, and encompasses the estuaries of the rivers Mamanguape, Miriri and Estiva (Alves et al., 2005) (Fig. 1). Its vegetation consists of remnants of the Atlantic forest and ‘restinga’ (coastal forest vegetation), and mangrove ecosystem covering more than 6000 ha on the banks of the rivers Mamanguape and Miriri, and their tributaries. Other ecosystems represented in the ‘APA’ are lagoons, beaches and reefs.

According to Paludo and

Zootherapheutical resources

Since the 1980s various publications have shown the importance of zootherapy for traditional communities from distinct socio-cultural–environmental landscapes in Brazil. Branch and Silva (1983) inventoried 33 animal species used as remedies in the Northern state of Pará; Begossi (1992) reported the use of 10 animal species at Búzios Island, off the state of São Paulo; Marques (1995) reported the use of 56 species in the ecoregion of Várzea de Marituba, state of Alagoas; Seixas and Begossi (2001)

Conclusions

The results obtained in this study showed that the surveyed communities rely on zootherapeutic practices as a form of affordable health care. From our ethnozoological findings, 100 species represent the heritage of the folk medicine of the communities surveyed. The local medicinal fauna is largely based on wild animals, including some endangered species.

Culture undeniably influenced the way traditional communities perceive and use the medicinal resources of their environment, their

Acknowledgments

To PROBIO/MMA/IBRD/GEF/CNPq and PADI Foundation for financial support. To CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for providing a research fellowship to the second author. Thanks are also due to the researchers who assisted in species identification: Gentil Alves P. Filho (reptiles), Ana Carolina Martins Queiroz (echinoderms), Cláudio Luís Sampaio (fishes), Isabel Feitoza (aquatic mammals), Alberto Kioharu Nishida and Jefferson de B. Batista (mollusks and

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