Animals use by communities of the Sierra Mariscal, Chiapas, Mexico and the department of San Marcos, Guatemala

Abstract

The nutritional or medicinal use of animals depends on the regional culture, worldview of local indigenous peoples, diversity, abundance, distribution and management of animals. It is also necessary to identify the way in which communities determine the value of species related to their nutritional properties or for the treatment of diseases, and their influence on the sustainable management of their populations, based on the knowledge of the human communities that use them as a resource. The nutritional or medicinal use of wildlife by communities in the Sierra de Mariscal, Chiapas, Mexico and the department of San Marcos, Guatemala was analyzed. During the months of February and March 2023, a catalog of animals and a 10-item questionnaire on their use, the diseases they cure, body parts used and ways of preparing the fauna were designed, which was applied to 110 inhabitants of communities in both study regions. The information was analyzed with frequency tables and a network analysis based on geodetic theory, which evaluates the relationships between species, their consumption, parts used and diseases they potentially cure. A diversity of 24 species of fauna is reported, of which n=21 (87.5%) have medicinal use (77 mentions) and eight species (32.5%) have food use (33 mentions). Amphibians and fish (4.1% each group), birds and insects (8.2% each), reptiles (12.5%), exotic and introduced animals (20.8%) and wild mammals (40.1%) were the species consumed. The diseases that wildlife can potentially treat through consumption are: cough, asthma, colds, arthritis, epilepsy, hypertension, pneumonia, acne, rheumatism and muscle pain relief, athlete's foot, relief of childbirth and reduction of cancer. This information could be important for the future development of studies on nutraceutical compounds associated with the treatment of these diseases, and that simultaneously support sustainable management strategies of wildlife populations by communities.