Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Maldonado, Angela M.
• Waters, Siân

Titel

Ethnoprimatology of the Tikuna in the Southern Colombian Amazon

Ist Teil von

• Neotropical Ethnoprimatology, p.89-107

Ort / Verlag

Cham: Springer International Publishing

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Primate conservation can be challenging if researchers have little or no understanding of the human–primate interface because of the many anthropogenic impacts affecting primate populations, such as hunting. Hunting primates was an important cultural and social activity for the Tikuna of the Colombian Amazon. In the recent past, tribal laws laid down constraints in the form of hunting taboos enabling the Tikuna people to manage their prey base. However, the loss of cultural restrictions intrinsically associated with their religion and traditional knowledge, including food taboos, has meant that primate populations have become locally depleted and previously taboo species are now hunted and consumed. Tikuna in the southern Colombian Amazon have guarded their resources for centuries but are now active players in the local market economy, where commercial extraction of resources is culturally accepted. For instance, the trapping of live night monkeys for malaria research, a taboo species for traditional Tikuna, is, today, a source of income. Searching for sustainable economic alternatives such as wildlife tourism might replace the income obtained from overexploitation of local natural resources. The main challenge to overcome while implementing community-based conservation interventions is that the income resulting from protecting biodiversity does not ensure an appropriate monetary return for local people. In this chapter, we present an example of how research and primate watching as part of wildlife tourism are improving local people’s perceptions of primates as a result of the income such activities generate. These initiatives provide hope for Neotropical primate conservation in the long term.