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Introduction
The Amazon is the largest forest and savannah system in the world cov-
ering about 8 million km2 which, over time, has undergone a rapid transfor-
mation of land use. It comprises an incredible number of different animals
and plants and a diversity of local human populations. If BAHUCHET (1993)
sets the number of living human aboriginal groups at 183, so many have
disappeared since European contact after the 15th century that this number
could well have been at least twice as high (POSEY & DUTFIELD 1996).
Plant species have been estimated to be 90,000 in the Neotropica (BISBY
1995) but invertebrates alone may well run into the millions and no complete
inventory is available for most small invertebrates (ERWIN 1982, 1997).
In this paper the diversity of local knowledge will be discussed including
domestication, the semi-domestication process and the potential, fundamen-
tal importance of maintaining and promoting local knowledge for the wel-
fare of communities, the maintenance of overall biodiversity and the promo-
tion of the sustainability of locally based development. The examples
discussed are especially from Amazonas in Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador.
Table 1
List of earthworms (Glossoscolecidae) ethnonames from only two Ye’Kuana villages
in the Alto Río Padamo area, Amazonas, Venezuela
Guatamo: group of
persons and Luis
Earthworms
Garcia; at Alacran Characteristics Use
ethnonames
Angel Garcia 1998-
2002
? SCICIU White-pink 6 cm upper river Only for fishing
banks
? CATASU Red-brown 6 cm upper river Only for fishing
banks
? MAWADA ? Only for fishing
? CANAJE’ ? Only for fishing
Andiorrhinus
(Amazodrilus) motto MOTTO White, lower river banks Edible
n. sp.
DAICIK White small lower river Edible
banks
VEJAJ White medium size Edible
TOCCAMO White Edible
TAEGIC White Edible
MODOIDDI White Edible
MOUATO ? Edible
ARAITO’ ? Edible
CETOKA ? Edible
? KURUJICETTE 30 cm, dark brown, in the Only for fishing
forest
Andiorrhinus
(Amazodrilus) kuru KURU Red-brown 40-60 cm, in Edible
n. sp. forest
? SARIDI 40-50 cm dark brown, in Edible
forest
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eaten and considered delicacy (PAOLETTI & DUFOUR 2005). None of these
species has a scientific name yet except for the two edible ones, motto and
kuru (fig. 1) that have been scientifically described recently (MORENO &
PAOLETTI 2004). For the same Ye’Kuana, for instance, two species such as
scisiu and catasu (fig. 2) are used only for line fishing but are not eaten.
The incredibly detailed knowledge of earthworms these Amerindians have
is comparable only with the knowledge the Maori have (on the Northern
Island of New Zealand recorded last century by BENHAM 1904) who can
provide ten ethnonames for earthworms most of which are considered
edible.
Fig. 1. — Edible earthworms kuru (left) and motto (centre) are appreciated by the
Ye’Kuana and are eaten raw and smoked (right) (Amazonas, Venezuela).
Fig. 2. — Scisiu (left) and catasu (right) are earthworms used only as bites for
line fishing in Alacran by the Ye’Kuana Amerindians.
Essential local knowledge, then, is based on species that are or are not
useful; but, this oral knowledge is based on direct experience of using these
resources especially for food and medicine (DUKE & VASQUEZ 1994; PAO-
LETTI et al. 2001, 2005).
The Yanomamo, for instance, living in the forests of Amazonas,
Venezuela, consider edible at least 392 species (out of the 527 they easily
recognize with ethnonames) which they hunt, trap, collect or cultivate in
their forest swiddens (tab. 2). In this outstanding number are found only 2-
3 ethnonames for earthworms, nothing in comparison to their Ye’Kuana
neighbours. But apparently the Yanomamo do not eat earthworms. The Gua-
jibo or the Yukpa Amerindians colonizing the savannah prefer grasshoppers
that forest peoples such as the Piaroa and the Yanomamo, even if these
species are present in their territory, dislike as food (RUDDLE 1973, PAOLETTI
& DUFOUR 2005).
Table 2
Potential knowledge of species ethnonames of an 11-year old Yanomamo in Amazonas,
Venezuela. Column I lists the total species potentially known in different categories; col-
umn II lists the edible species; column III lists ethnonames collected by a missionary
during many years of contact with villagers in the Alto Orinoco. Columns I and II were
obtained by a group of seven Yanomamo of different villages (they listed the species
“from memory”)
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Table 3
Ethnonames of caterpillars consumed by the Yanomamo,
Alto Orinoco, Venezuela, July 1997
A B
C D
Fig. 3. — Opomosci (Erinnyis ello) (A) is one key edible caterpillar living on Yuca
(Manihot esculenta) in Amazon. It is appreciated by several Amerindians including
the Yanomamo. Chinere for the Piaroa and Masamasadi for the Ye’Kuana (B) is a
very appreciated edible caterpillar living on Pourouma sp. Edible terrestrial, burrowing
spiders in Alto Orinoco (C, D) Theraphosa apophysis.
Then, again, the number of species is far larger than the few species dom-
inated by the domesticates in the Fertile Crescent. In most cases, local food
and more diverse food is not less nutritious or healthy than “western food”
found on supermarket shelves (DE FOLIART 1999; NAC 1989, 1996;
MALAISSE 1997; MANCONi et al. 2001).
But when we inquire about the number of species known and considered
edible, the situation is quite disarming, even among supposed “specialists”,
such as biology students at university (tab. 4). In addition, when the ten
most-cited species are listed they always appear to include: tomatoes, car-
rots and cherries or apples — all red or orange in colour! Apparently, our
ability to record edible species is influenced by colour.
Table 4
Estimated (maximum) number of species known and consumed as food by western
civilized peoples and forest- and savannah-dwelling peoples in Amazonas (Venezuela)
Note: Interviews were performed by university personnel (1995-1996) using forms filled
out in class; oral interviews were carried out in Amerindian villages located near Puerto
Ayacucho, Amazonas (1997). The university students were attending animal ecology courses
in their third year at the University of Padova, for their degree in Natural History. The Gua-
jibo live in the savannahs near P. Ayacucho, Amazonas, Venezuela. The Curripaco are an
expert river margin-dwelling group living near P. Ayacucho, Amazonas, Venezuela. The Piaroa
and Yanomamo are more strictly forest-living Amerindians in the Alto Orinoco, Amazonas,
Venezuela. The Yanomamo maintain strong links with the forest for their survival.
Are the species that we use (mostly in Western Culture) the right ones, the
only ones available that have been domesticated and spread everywhere?
This is the case with wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, barley, oats, soybeans, pota-
toes which have been spread everywhere and dominate rural landscapes in
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China, Australia, Europe and Africa, North and South America. The same
can be said for animals — the large animals — cows, hogs, sheep, goats,
horses, chickens, ducks, salmons and trout that have dominated most of the
world’s landscapes (DIAMOND 2002). Another view suggests much more
diversity based on the many different species adopted in areas with high
biodiversity and based on local knowledge and experience, linked to thousands
of species not currently found in our supermarkets but considered locally as
valuable food although not appreciated enough outside their small range of
attention and local use (NAC 1989, 1996; MALAISSE 1997; MANCONI et al.
2001; LAIRD 2002; BOND 2000; PAOLETTI & BUKKENS 1997; PAOLETTI 2005).
It has been noted that a few plants and animals have been domesticated in
the Amazon lowlands whereas most plants and animals used are in a state of
semi-domestication (NAC 1989, PIPERNO & PEARSALL 1998) with only a
few domesticated. The swiddens and especially their fallow stages are
important in hunting and collection, as well as for crop production (DUFOUR
2000). The large burrowing spiders, for instance, are collected especially
in abandoned swiddens under fallow (fig. 3C, D). Scarabaeids larvae are
also frequently collected from dead unburnt rotting logs in the swiddens
together with larvae of Cerambycidae and Passalidae under barks and inside
seasoned wood.
A further example could be the semidomesticated earthworm motto (fig. 1):
“Native people manage these resources that the newcomer would normally
consider wild. For instance, the earthworm (Andiorrhinus motto) (an anellid
belonging to Glossoscolecidae, only recently described scientifically) is nor-
mally farmed by the Ye’Kuana (in Alto Orinoco, Amazonas, Venezuela).
They collect adults and cocoons during April-May (at the time of reproduc-
tion) from river banks and introduce them into river banks where they are
absent. One year later they return and collect the inseminated earthworms”
(PAOLETTI & DUFOUR 2005).
A B C D
Fig. 4. — Amerindian swiddens. Near Pavoni, Amazonas, Venezuela bearing a large amount of earthworm excrements as positive
sign of good soil for the implementation of a garden (A). Large earthworm at Paramo de Gavidia associated to good situation to plant
potatoes (B). Mulched swiddens near Lago Agrío, Ecuador (C, D).
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to slash and burn a portion of forest to settle a new garden are detected
in the vegetation cover, soil structure and colour and animal features such
as the presence of forest earthworms made evident by the presence of
surface excrement or burrows. The presence of excrement of aquatic earth-
worms (such as motto) would not appear to be appreciated in places where
a potential new garden is to be established, which is understandable as such
earthworms live in places that are easily flooded (fig. 4).
We found in the Andean region that local villagers (for instance at
Paramo de Gavidia near Mérida, Venezuela) indicated a large earthworm
presence as a key element in deciding which soil is regenerated enough to
plough and sow potato seeds. Large earthworms and a good potato yield
seem positively associated there. The introduction of mulch to cover the
soil of the burnt swidden is not frequent but has been observed for instance
in Ecuador near Lago Agrío and was performed traditionally by Amerin-
dians living there (fig. 4). Such attention to cover apparently improves soil
conditions and micro-climate as well as organic material turnover. This
could be a strategy worth spreading and promoting in other Amazonic
areas.
A B C
D E
Fig. 5. — Unarmed and armed solanum (Lasiocarpa) sessiliflorum and berries
(A, B, C). A small cousin of the tomato, Maiapi (solanum stramonifolium) from
Amazon (Alto Orinoco) greatly appreciated by the Curripaco Indians but not spread-
ing locally even in the Indian markets, and a more known species, tupiro (C), appre-
ciated by the Guajibo (Amazonas, Venezuela). Iranac (possibly S. monachophyllum
Dunal) (E) is only collected in the wild.
A B
C D
Fig. 6. — Paca is a very much appreciated hunted meat (A) all over the Amazon.
Agouti paca is a rodent that eats fruits, seeds, roots and leaves and that could be
domesticated (B) in appropriate paddocks (C, D).
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Fig. 7. — A very striking delicious fruit from Amazon forests (Alto Orinoco,
Venezuela) that has never been cultivated (but also never commercialized even in
the local markets), Yara Yara for the Piaroa (Amazonas, Venezuela). On the right
the fruit peeled.
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Fig. 8. — Edible berries: two passion fruits very much appreciated in some vil-
lages (Passifruit Passiflora seemannii and P. foetida) (Amazonas, Venezuela). A red
edible berry, Mututa, good when ripe and cooked, eaten in Alto Orinoco by the
Ye’Kuana. A delicious fruit similar to grape found in the Amazon (Paurouma cer-
copifolia) here at Lago Agrío, Ecuador.
Education?
Table 5
Nutritional value of some insects consumed in tropical South America compared with
other animal foods. Composition per 100 g edible portion (DUFOUR & SANDERS 1999)
Food Moisture Energy Protein Fat
% kcal
Female ant Atta sexdens 6.1 628 39.7 34.7
Female ant Atta cephalotess 6.9 580 48.1 25.8
Soldiers termite Syntermes sp. 10.3 467 58.9 4.9
Palmworm Rhynchophorus palmarum 13.7 661 24.3 55
Caterpillars various (smoke dried) 11.6 425 52.6 15.4
River fish (smoke dried) 10.5 312 43.4 7
Tapir (smoke dried) 10.3 516 75.4 11.9
Conclusions
REFERENCES