Animal resources linked with the life of Birhor community settled in Ayodhya hills, Purulia District, West Bengal
Soma Chanda and Ambarish Mukherjee
Centre of Advanced Study, Department of Botany, University of Burdwan, Burdwan-713104, West Bengal (India) E-mail- somac10@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The present ethnobiological work documents 25 animal species with their scientific and vernacular names, systematic position and use. Most of these animals are hunted or procured from wild in their day to day life by Birhors, the Monkey-eating tribe settled in the Ayodhya hills of Purulia district, West Bengal. For consumption as food no less than 12 species are used by them of which two are also used for medicinal purposes. Birhors are capable of treating one veterinary and eight human diseases with the help of medicines prepared exclusively from nine species of animals. Five animal species are used by them for miscellaneous purposes. Cow (Bos indica) and cobra (Naja naja) are considered sacred by them and hence worshipped. Since the irrational use of these bioresources may push many of the concerned species towards extinction conservational measures are emphasized by the present authors. It is also likely that therapeutic evaluation of the recorded ethnomedicines can lead to discovery of novel patient-friendly drugs.