The traditional inhabitants of humid tropical forests, especially in the Brazilian Amazon, enjoy a smorgasbord of wildlife to hunt. Many tribes however are not alone and must share their resources with other tribes. Hunting norms and taboos help inhabitants of tropical regions—as well as inhabitants in other habitats—cope with game scarcity.
The Tukano tribe of the Vaupés River in the Colombian northeast Amazon tropical rain forest has intricate symbolic systems of when, where and how a hunter can kill his prey (Moran, 276). The Tukano believe that animals and humans share the same pools of reproductive energy, from which each has a set limit. Therefore, it is important for the Tukano to regulate their own sexual activity and reproduction in order to leave enough sexual energy for the animals to reproduce and serve as nourishment to the human community.
As part of this belief, the hunter abstains from sex or sexual thoughts before and after the hunt, or when his wife is menstruating, The hunter instead focuses his sexual energy on courting and seducing the prey. These types of ritual systems restrict frequency of hunting and of human reproduction, reducing the number of mouths to feed.
Colding and Folke (2001) label these types of resource managing behaviors resource and habitat taboos. Many tribes, besides the Tukano, have rules and norms as to how, what and when you can hunt or eat. They divided these taboos into six categories: segment taboos, temporal taboos, method taboos, life history taboos, specific species taboos, and habitat taboos. Most all of these practices protect ritually important or nutritionally crucial animals from overexploitation either during mating season, a particularly weak stage of life, or when considered scarce.
The question Colding and Folke ask pertains to how the resource and habitat taboos could possibly be applied to western conservation efforts. Some are already in place, but some are impossible given cultural constraints. Western hunters abide by specified hunting seasons particular to each species by law; however, western hunters would be unlikely to abstain from sex before and after each hunt. Conservation of nature in Western societies will be dependent on education and legislation.
Colding J. and C. Folke. “Social Taboos: ‘Invisible’ Systems of Local Resource Management and Biological Conservation.” Ecological Applications. 11. 2 (2001): 584-600
Moran, E. (2008) Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology. Westview Press, Colorado, 263-304 pp. JStore. Web. 25 Oct. 2009.
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It was interesting to compare the customs of the Tukano people with the Miskito Indians, both of which inhabit tropical regions. Where the Tukano promote self-control and rules of sexual conduct, Miskito men and women practice the opposite. Tukano try and reduce reproduction rates while the Miskito women average 5-8 children each. In trying to reconcile the major differences between the two tropical groups, the only conclusion I could come up with related to their specific locations. The Miskito were coastal people with greater access to resources whereas the Tukano were more inland and therefore had to develop more efficient methods of subsistence. It's amazing how the smallest details of a groups physical environment can totally shape their culture!
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