South Africa is blessed with 480 reptile species (Branch, 1998) and 115 known frog species (Sarca, 2009). A great deal of these species are being traded and used for traditional medicine. Despite the assumption that traditional medicine would decline with increasing urbanization and modernization, the muthi trade and use has experienced a steady growth throughout the twentieth century and remains a significant aspect of South Africa’s socio-economy and an important sector of South Africa’s economy (Nesvag, 1999). According to Nesvag (1999), muthi trade is largely under-researched sector of South Africa’s informal economy. Literature there is on the trade subject has focused on animals in both Johannesburg’s Faraday Muthi and Durban’s Warwick Triangle Markets (i.e. Whiting et al. 2010) with little literature on ethnozoology (e.g. Simelane & Kerley, 1998; Cunningham & Zondi, 1991). No study ever focused on the trade and use of a particular taxa.
The trade and use of a particular taxanomic group remains unresearched hidden economy. This study will try to address this void by providing an analysis on the trade and use of herpetofauna in traditional medicine and its implications on herpetofaunal conservation using Durban Muthi Market as the case study,
Significance of Research
This study will seek to improve the public’s knowledge on the trade and role of herpetofauna in traditional medicine as an alternative treatment and to improve the ailing literature on ethnozoology in South Africa. Furthermore, to improve of how trade impacts natural populations and to try and find ways in which conservation management initiatives can work with natural resource harvesters.
a) Aim
To document ethnoherpetology and species traded at Durban Mut...
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...view will be more of a conversation than a question-and-answer session to encourage flexibility and self-expression. Furthermore, topics for discussions will be prepared, these will be important to prompt further discussions during letups.
Species identification will be done at the market, but incases that proves impossible, photographs will be taken for later identification aided by field guides (reptiles: Branch, 1998; Amphibians: du Preez & Carruthers, 2011). Animal fats and mixtures will be excluded from the recording due to identity verification reasons. Following (Whiting et al, 2010), the focus will be to record observable data due to difficulties expected in getting honest/ reliable data. A survey checklist form to record the species, quantities, and uses will be designed. No names or stall numbers of the traders will be recorded to guarantee anonymity.
Middleton, Karen. "Who killed 'Malagasy Cactus'? Science, environment and colonialism in southern Madagascar (1924-1930)." Journal of Southern African Studies; Oxford. June 1999: 215-248.
Marjorie Shostak, an anthropologist who had written this book had studies the !Kung tribe for two years. Shostak had spent the two years interviewing the women in the society. The !Kung tribe resided n the Dobe area of Northwest Botswana, that’s infused with a series of clicks, represented on paper by exclamation points and slashes. Shostak had studied that the people of the tribe relied mostly on nuts of the mongongo, which is from an indigenous tree that’s part of their diet.
"Children of the Forest" is a narrative written by Kevin Duffy. This book is a written testament of an anthropologist's everyday dealings with an African tribe by the name of the Mbuti Pygmies. My purpose in this paper is to inform the reader of Kevin Duffy's findings while in the Ituri rainforest. Kevin Duffy is one of the first and only scientists to have ever been in close contact with the Mbuti. If an Mbuti tribesman does not want to be found, they simply won't be. The forest in which the Mbuti reside in are simply too dense and dangerous for humans not familiar with the area to enter.
“Summary Report for: Fish and Game Wardens”. O Net Online. 2014.Web. 4 April 2014. >.
In the Congo’s of Africa lives the Mbuti Pygmies. They are a foraging culture that depends on hunting and gathering for their survival, as well as the ability to trade with agricultural villages. Living in the rain forest gives way to temper changes as well as changes to the plant and animal surroundings. Adapting to these elements in key to surviving in here for a foraging society in with Mbuti has done very well. They never used more resources than needed for their own survival which is what we call a subsistence economy. Foraging communities are referred to as immediate return system meaning that consumption of food and other resources happens immediately. They keep very little surplus and no to little desire to store goods as if they need something they can go out and get it in their surroundings (Woodburn, 1988). Being a foraging society gives way to different ways they cope with relationships, politics, and social organizations.
The use of medicinal herbs and food, dancing, music, and chanting in ceremonies and rituals, and physical manipulation are present in all three indigenous communities. Ceremonies and rituals facilitated by the traditional healers often involved everyone in the community. Indigenous African communities used herbs to prevent and treat health conditions such as viral hepatitis, malaria, and diarrhoea. Hepasor was used to treat viral hepatitis, cinchona was taken to prevent malaria and assegaai were used as an antidiarrheal, blood purifier and natural aphrodisiac.
Wildlife conservationists are constantly working to supervise the rivers, forest, and other natural resources of Africa in order to preserve and protect them through prudent management. In Kenya, laws against trophy hunting has assisted these conservationists in maintaining wildlife populations. However, park rangers face a huge battle against the illegal poaching of these rare trophy animals, such as lions and elephants. In Asia, the demand for ivory continues to surge, despite the long-time ban on its international trade. The demand is so high that the Tanzanian government has developed plans to construct a commercial highway through the Serengeti in order to more efficiently trade goods with Asia (“The Need for Serengeti Watch”). However, the highway will also provide a faster route to the coast for ivory smugglers. The controversy surrounding the highway and its positive or negative effects on the economy, Tanzania as a whole, and the Serengeti is countless. Despite the debate over its benefits and...
specific animal some points would be: the anatomy of the species, the nutrition for what it needs
The Ba’aka peoples nomadic lifestyle is less damaging to the rainforest environment because it allows the group to move without over-exploiting the local game and forest resources. Most African forest people spend much of the year near a village where they trade bush meat and honey for manioc, produce, and other goods. In contrast when there was an allowance of poaching and removal of natural resources, the Ba’aka people ran low on the bushmeat and found the forest inhabitable due t...
There has been much debate over whether hunting and gathering is an economic practice for subsistence or whether it is a way of life- a cultural practice. Subsistence methods can rarely be separated from culture- cultural aspects grow, over a span of many years, around the methods people use to survive. Subsistence methods and culture are not mutually exclusive. There are occasional variations depending on the group, location, and time period in question, but this is mostly the case. To illustrate this, examples can be made of Bushmen communities in and around Southern Africa as well as some groups in other parts of the world, in reference to the spiritual beliefs they hold and the art they produce.
Schneider asks, does this practice rob peoples of their culture, or simply generate a new kind of survival market culture? In seeking “to recognize and question Eurocentric imaginings of the world,” the discipline of anthropology complicates the right of tourists to judge the commodities of indigenous communities, as it questions the right of a global economy that forces peoples to produce such commodities to survive (Schneider 83).
In 1958, their population was approximately 40,000. The pursuant gatherers of Mbuti people are separated into several subgroups. They lived within their individual region, where they have their own languages and engage in their hunting practices. Each Mbuti subgroup uses a language of a nearest person and they do not have a text method. Their sizes are usually small and average; they also have naturally brown skin and churlish hairs. Mbuti persons exist in bands of 15 to 60. They live in hot, sticky and plentiful precipitation forest which is sprinkled with lakes and rivers. It also has a wealthy variety of flowers and animals. The Mbuti have exte...
The plants found in the rain forests can be useful to everyone around the world. The Kayapo, a people of the Amazon, are dependent upon plants in the Amazon. A research team came into the area that the Kayapo people inhabit. A team of scientists researched 1,200 plants in the area. Their results have shown that 98% of these plants are used in the Kayapo society. Of all the plants 45% of them were never known to...
Economic factors are major driving features of arguments for and against culling. One of pro culling concepts is feral and surplus animals have increased the amount of environmental damage. This positively correlates with economical damage, as funds are needed for restoration. For example, feral water buffalos located in Kakadu National Park contaminate water sources (Robinson et al., 2004). As a result, Jawoyn people suffer from “buffalo belly” needing medical attention (Robinson et al., 2004). Another main issue is water buffalos tend to feed on croplands and cause erosion. It is vital to fix these problems as Jawoyn people depend on those resources to survive. Consequently, it costs more money to provide food, replenish croplands, clean waterholes and hire medical aid. This is deemed as unnecessary because culling can potentially prevent
... a presentation of many views. Unfortunately each of the members of the Sunrise team will give their own opinions on each topic, which is a minor downside.