Ethnozoological study of animals based medicine used by traditional healers and indigenous inhabitants in the adjoining areas of Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India

Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary is the only sanctuary named after non-human primate the Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock). It is located in the close proximity of the Naga Hills in the Jorhat district of Assam, India and covers an area of about 20.98 sq. km. extended between latitude 26°40′ N to 26°45′ N and 94°20′ E to 94°25′ E longitude (Fig. 1). The sanctuary is topographically characterized by an almost level land with an average contour height of 90 m from mean sea level with an average annual rainfall of 249 cm [36]. The sanctuary is famous for harbouring seven species of primates namely Western Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock hoolock), Stump-tailed Macaque (Macaca arctoides), Eastern Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis), Northern Pig-tailed macaque (Macaca lenina), Bengal Slow Loris (Nycticebus bengalensis), Indian Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and Capped Langur (Trachypithecus pileatus durga) [36]. The other main animals present are Indian elephant (Elephas maximus), sambar (Cervus unicolor), wild boar (Sus scrofa), jungle cats (Felis chaus), leopards (Panthera pardus), four types of squirrel, etc. The Sanctuary is harboured by other types of mammals, 232 species of birds and several types of snakes [34, 36].

Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary exhibits a great ethnic cultural diversity surrounded mainly by human settlement and tea gardens. The major ethnic communities inhabited adjacent to wildlife sanctuary are Ahom, Chutiya, Koch-Rajbonshi, Kalita and tea tribes (Adivasi). Ahom, Chutiya and Koch-Rajbonshi people belong to Mongoloid groups. However, Kalita community of Assam commonly claimed themselves to belong to the Kshatriya caste and they considered as pure Aryans and it was thought that they were the first to introduce the Aryan culture in Assam [37, 38]. The tea tribes of Assam (Adivasi) are the people who were brought to the State in the British era as workers in tea gardens by colonial tea planters. The community consists of people belonging to the indigenous tribal community like Munda, Santhal. Bhumiz etc. Although all these communities are from different origin, nevertheless they are patriarchal by nature and belong to Assamese and use Assamese scripts [39].

The present study was conducted in the villages surrounding the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary and the information was collected mainly from the people of Ahom, Chutiya, Koch-Rajbongsi and Kalita communities.

Field surveys were conducted in villages surrounding Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary from March to August 2015. The ethnomedicinal data about the use of animals and their products were collected using the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method, where the informants also sometimes become investigator themselves, involves an interview, informal meetings, open and group discussions and with semi-structured questionnaires [40‐42].

During survey, details were asked in semi questionnaire form on the ethnozoological information, including local name of animal, part used, ailments, method of preparation, mode of administration, dosage, duration of treatment etc. concerning each of the traditional medicine [41‐44]. The age of respondents varied from 30 to 80 years. A total of 62 individuals were interviewed. The respondents/informants were selected mainly on the basis of their experience, recognition as an expert knowledgeable persons, traditional healers concerning traditional medicine. Moreover, the detailed ingredients of medicine whether they use only animal parts or mixed with other ingredients like plant material were also noted. The scientific name and species name of animals were identified using relevant standard literature [45, 46] and also in association with Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Shillong.

The inhabitants in villages surrounding the Sanctuary have a strong belief and knowledge regarding the source and use of traditional medicine. They use different plants, animals and animal byproducts for curing different ailments in their own indigenous ways. The knowledge regarding traditional medicine is usually confined to the local medicinal practitioners popularly known as Kabiraj, Bez and Bejini. Demographic information of the respondents was collected through face to face interaction. During the survey, respondents comprised an uneven distribution of the male-female ratio, where 69.4% respondents were male and only 30.6% were female. The high male-female ratio may indicate the dominancy of the participation of male medicinal practitioners over female medicinal practitioners. The same trend was also reported in other studies [30, 31, 50]. The respondents belonged to mainly 4 ethnic groups i.e. Ahom, Chutiya, Koch-Rajbangsi and Kalita communities with the highest number of respondents from Ahom community (41.9%) (Table 1).

The age of the respondents varied from 31 to 80 years. The percentage of local medicinal practitioner with age lower than fifty was found to be very less with only 21% as compared to 79% of the aged group of society above 50 years (Table 1). The demographic table of the respondents showed that the aged groups of the society were more knowledgeable about traditional medicinal uses than that of younger generation. This trend was very similar to the observation in other region of Assam made by Verma et al. [31] and may also indicate that the aged people were more experienced in the zootherapeutical practices which were passed to them by their elders. The reason of less traditional medicinal knowledge among the younger generation could be due to urbanization and assimilation of alien culture.

Most of the respondents had secondary level education while some of them were up to graduation level (Table 1). Only 12 respondents (19.4%) were formally employed in government sector mainly as school teachers while others were mostly farmers, workers and local traditional healers. Most of the informants practiced this traditional therapy as a part time job to serve the society. However, some are renowned well known herbalist/healers who practice this traditional medicinal knowledge in large scale as their profession.

The study recorded a total of 36 families, 44 genera, and 44 species of animals which were used to treat 40 different disease conditions. Table 2 summarizes the English name, scientific name, local name, the parts or byproduct of the species used to treat the disease(s) or ailment(s). These 44 animal species belonged to both verterates (25 species) and invertebrates (19 species). These animal species belong to 42 taxonomic groups among which insects occupied a highest number of animals (30.9%), followed by mammals (23.8%), fish (16.7%), reptiles (11.9%), amphibians (7.1%), annelids (4.8%) and gastropods (4.8%) (Fig. 2). Insects may have been used mostly because of the easy availability in the study area, as was reported from Arunachal Pradesh, India [24]. The second highest zootherapeutic animals to be used are mammals as some of them are domesticated animals. However, in some reports mammals and reptiles are among the main group of animals used in folk medicine [17, 51, 52]. The use of mammals in traditional medicine has also been reported from other parts of India [30, 31, 53]. This finding demonstrates the importance of local faunal diversity in furnishing folk medicine as suggested by Alves and Rosa [16] who observed that faunal composition, accessibility and availability directly influence the type of zootherapeutic resources used in any given region.

The use of a number of animals and animal derived drugs by different ethnic communities to treat different diseases have also been reported from different geographical regions in India. A total of 15 different animal species were reported to be used for therapeutic purposes by the Mogya, Bawaria, and Meena community of Rajasthan [54]. About 26 animal species were reported to be used by the Naga tribe of Nagaland [26] and 48 different animals were recorded and documented to be used for different ethnomedicinal purposes among the Karbis of Assam [31]. Different indigenous tribal groups also sacrifice animals for different rituals and religious purposes in keeping with their mythological myths and beliefs. For example, people wear bear and tiger claws around their neck to protect from evils while animals like goat, buffalo, pigeon were sacrificed to please Gods for healing purposes [54‐56].

From the study conducted, treatment was found for assisting 40 different ailments such as asthma, pneumonia, cancer, fever, piles, gastric, diabetes, snake bite, Pox, otorrhoes etc. (Table 2). The use of whole animals for medicinal purpose was recorded to be the highest (44.9%), followed by other animals parts and byproducts like meat (22.5%), blood, head, alimentary canal, gall bladder/bile, urine, horn, milk (each 4.1%) and heart, cocoon with larva (each 2.0%).

The result of our study depicted a total of 9 modes of preparation of animals for consumption against different ailments. The most commonly used way of taking animals in the study area is by consuming raw which occupied 28.7% of total preparation, followed by boiled, cooked and juice (each 16.3%), paste (8.2%), Ash (4.1%), fried (6.1%), decoction and smoke (each 2.0%) (Fig. 3). Raw consumption of animals or animal parts in different therapeutic purposes is a common practice among different ethnic communities worldwide [2, 57]. Further, it was noted that the oral consumption of the preparations to treat the ailments were much higher (88.1%) than that applied topically (11.9%) (Fig. 4). This is quite similar to the observation made in other studies [31, 57‐59]. However, topical application is still a most important way of remedy to treat disease like pain, bone fracture, wound, piles, otorrhoea etc. [31, 57, 58].

The study also showed that for better therapeutic and remedial purposes plants and plant derived products were also used in combination with the animal parts and byproducts to treat some ailments (Table 2). For example, cow urine is mixed with crushed seed of Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers. (Bokful) for the treatment of epilepsy, cow milk is mixed with juice of Alstonia scholaris L. (Sotiona) leaves and bark to treat chronic dysentery etc. Some medicinal preparation where both plant and animals are utilized in combination is also reported from Brazil [7, 9, 60]. Some of the animal species being used by these ethnic groups, have also been reported to be used for similar purpose elsewhere. Cockroach (Periplaneta americana), found to treat asthma in our study site, has also been reported to have the same usage in Brazil [61]. Similarly Mishra and Panda [62] have documented the use of cockroach excreta in the treatment of bronchitis from coastal region of Orissa, India. Moreover, the present findings recorded the use of Hystrix indica elementary canal in the treatment of pre-menstrual pain, where as elementary canal of Hysrix indica was reported to be used as antiasthmatic in cough and cold among Pahari and Danawar tribe of central Nepal [63]. It was also noted that honey bees were used against treatment of cancer suspects and this observation could be in line with the findings of Jo et al. [64] where honey bee venom toxin and melittin were suggested for anticancer effect in ovarian cancer cells through induction of death receptor and inhibition of JAK2/STAT 3 pathway. Human urine was documented in the present study to be used against wound healing and recovery from senseless, however, Verma et al. [31] have reported the use of human urine as a therapeutic against conjunctivitis and skin diseases by Karbi community of Assam, India. According to Zhang et al. [65], the medicinal usage of earthworms in China has a history of nearly 4000 years for the treatment of 80 different diseases like asthma, epilepsy, cancer etc. Present study also documents the use of earthworms against many diseases like vocal cord infection, piles, cancer, and pneumonia. Pharmacological importance of earthworms is also supported by the study of Dinesh et al. [66], where they showed the anticancer potential of peptides of coelomic fluid of earthworms. However, special precaution should be taken when animal tissue or parts from unknown sources are used as remedies due to possibility of transmission of severe and prevalent zoonoses and other side effects. Photographs captured during field survey showing the interaction with some traditional healers and some representative animals, animal parts and their storing method is given in Fig. 5.