Zootherapy Among the Ethnic Groups of North Eastern Region of India-a Critical Review

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to review the practices of Zootherapy among the ethnic groups of the northeastern part of India and to prepare an inventory of all the information. The data were collected from 11 published papers on the practices of zootherapy among different ethnic groups from the region. All the papers were published in the years 2002-2016. A total of 181 animals species are used by 19 ethnic groups from the region. Mammals are the most widely used animal groups followed by Arthropods, Aves, Pisces, Reptiles, Annelids, Amphibian and Molluscs. The number of the animal species are-77 species of Mammals (42.5%) followed by 65 species of Arthropods (35.9%), 24 species of Aves (13.25%), 22 species of Pisces (12.15%), 18 species of Reptiles (9.94%), 6 species of Annelids (3.31%), 5 species of Amphibians (2.76%) and 4 species of Molluscs (2.21%). The most commonly treated ailments are-Tuberculosis, Malaria, Diabetes, Asthma, Arthritis, Rheumatic pain, Jaundice, Anaemia, Paralysis, Pertussis, etc. This review on the zoo therapy practices among the ethnic groups of the region will summarise all the information in one place which will be helpful for the scientists and researchers working in the field of ethnomedicine to study and develop new potential drugs.

Zoopharmacology: A Way to Discover New Cancer Treatments

“…Despite their importance, studies on the therapeutic use of animals and animal parts have been neglected, when compared to plants [ 58 ]. However, in the last three years, some articles have been published compiling the use of animal-based therapies in different places such as India [ 60 , 61 , 62 ], Latin America [ 63 , 64 ], or Mauritius [ 65 ], evidencing the interest that this field arouses nowadays.…”

Zootherapeutic uses of animals and their parts: an important element of the traditional knowledge of the Tangsa and Wancho of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, North-East India

“…Surveys other than our own specifically focusing on North-East India indicated roughly the same (Kakati and Doulo 2002;Solanki and Chutia 2004;Jamir and Lal 2005;Kakati et al 2006;Chakravorty et al 2011), but some differences were nevertheless apparent. For example in South America, fishes, according to Alves et al (2017), played a major therapeutic role, but not among North-East Indian tribals (reviewed by Das et al 2017), and in Africa, reptile species in addition to birds and mammals tended to be more commonly used than fishes as traditional medicines (Vats and Thomas 2015;Williams et al 2016). Among the Wancho tribe ( Fig.…”

“…Our findings of the raw materials and animal body parts used therapeutically by the Tangsa and Wancho are in agreement with those used by Biate tribals of Assam, involving mostly flesh, followed by gall bladder and fat obtained from slaughtered livestock or hunted wild species (Betlu 2013). By comparison, for the 19 ethnic entities of North-East India reviewed by Das et al (2017) the most commonly medicinally used mammalian and avian body components were also flesh, gall bladder, fat and liver tissue. Occasionally, some animal-derived medicines, based on dried and preserved animal body parts, were sold in local markets, but house vendors are still the commonest means by which wild animals and fresh parts for medicinal purposes can be obtained.…”

“…Somewhat surprisingly, there has been no mention of animal body fats being used by the Wancho tribals, but in agreement with the Tangsa's uses, body fats of hornbills, pythons and eagles for treating burns, body and joint pains have been reported from the Nyishi and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh (Chakravorty et al 2011), while fats of porcupines and tigers for treating body pains, rheumatic aches and unwellness have been used by various Naga tribes (Jamir and Lal 2005). According to Das et al (2017), the porcupine (Hystrix indica) is the most widely therapeutically used mammalian species in North-East India.…”

“…Latin America (Costa-Neto 2005;Alves et al 2010;Alves and Alves 2011;Alves 2012;Castillo and Ladio 2018;Souto et al 2018), Africa (Tchibozo 2004;Williams et al 2016Williams et al , 2017Soewu 2008;Soewu and Sodeinde 2015;Vats and Thomas 2015), Europe (Motte-Florac 2004;Quave et al 2010) and East Asia (Reid 1982;Still 2003;Commission 2015;Yang et al 2018). Zootherapy practices for India as a whole were summarized by Mahawar and Jaroli (2006) and Pandey (2015), but for the North-East Region of India alone only the review by Das et al (2017) is available. The World Health Organization stresses that a large proportion of the world's inhabitants rely primarily on animal and plant-based medicine (WHO 2013) and it is widely accepted that even today traditional medicines remain the most available and affordable form of therapy in many low-income countries.…”