Man-animal relationships in Central Nepal

Area of Science:

• Ethnozoology
• Cultural Anthropology
• Biodiversity Studies

Background:

• Nepal possesses rich bio-cultural diversity, with unique fauna and ancient human populations.
• The Tamang community in central Nepal has an intimate, yet understudied, relationship with local animals.
• Ethnozoological knowledge is declining in Nepal due to development, threatening both cultural and biological heritage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the ethnozoological relationships of the Tamang community in central Nepal.
• To document the diverse uses of animals within Tamang culture.
• To emphasize the importance of conserving culturally significant fauna.

Main Methods:

• Employed participatory approaches: semi-structured interviews, participatory rural appraisal, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions.
• Conducted household-level questionnaire surveys for quantitative data.
• Collected data between September 2004 and August 2005, identifying animals to species level using taxonomic keys.

Main Results:

• The Tamang community utilizes knowledge of 41 genera (28 families) of animals.
• Invertebrates constitute 14.6% of the studied animals; vertebrates form the remainder.
• Primary uses include food (58%), medicine (58%), magico-religious practices (16%), omen indication (18%), and other uses (weather forecasting, trophy, ethnomusical, taboos) at 2% each.

Conclusions:

• The Tamang people exhibit strong material and spiritual connections with animals.
• Animals serve critical roles as sources of traditional medicine, omens, and weather indicators.
• Urgent conservation efforts are needed for animals holding high consensus value within the Tamang community.