Medicinal animals: knowledge and use among riverine populations from the Negro River, Amazonas, Brazil

• Main Author: Andréa Leme da Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi 2008-12-01
• Series: Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas
• Subjects: Medicinal animals; Traditional knowledge; Negro River; Amazonas; Brazilian Amazon
• Online Access: http://www.museu-goeldi.br/editora/bh/artigos/chv3n3_2008/animais(silva).pdf

The article documents the use of animals in the home medicine among riverine populations from the Negro River, State of Amazonas, Brazil. Data were collected through interviews and observations concerning to the knowledge and everyday practices of the use of medicinal animals. About 60 animal species are known with medicinal purposes. The knowledge is well distributed between sexes (men and women) and localities (urban and rural). The use of medicinal animals is embedded in etiological concepts and involves a complex cosmological vision of the cure process. The rural exodus and the facilitated access to the western medicine may be promoting the loss of the traditional knowledge, which can be mitigated through the valorization and transmission of this knowledge to the future generations.