Ethnozoology and Wildlife Conservation: Exploring Faunal Relationships with Indigenous Tribes in Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra

Abstract

Animal products have been important to people in many ways since the beginning of written history. Animals have been respected in faith, art, music, literature, and other areas of human culture, in addition to their usability. Humans use animals and the ways they are exploited, as well as the cultural aspects that shape interactions between humans and animals, can put less or more pressure on populations of exploited species, which can affect their ability to survive or even cause them to go extinct. Several types of relationships between people and animals are studied in ethnozoology, a branch of ethnobiology that looks into what people have learned about animals over time and how they are important to those societies. Ethnozoological studies can help us learn more about the traditional, cultural, economic, and social roles that animals play. In this situation, they play a big part in control and conservation. This article talks about the main ways that people have interacted with animals throughout history, what those interactions meant for the environment, and how ethnozoology can help protect animals.