Ethnozoology Among the Berbers: Pre-Islamic Practices Survive in the Rif (Northwestern Africa) Aymane Budjaj1, Guillermo Benítez2* and Juan Manuel Pleguezuelos1
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Budjaj et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2021) 17:43 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-021-00466-9 RESEARCH Open Access Ethnozoology among the Berbers: pre-Islamic practices survive in the Rif (northwestern Africa) Aymane Budjaj1, Guillermo Benítez2* and Juan Manuel Pleguezuelos1 Abstract Background: Ethnozoological knowledge is less documented than ethnobotanical. With this field study, we aim to record and analyze the Riffian Berber knowledge about the use of animals in traditional human and veterinary medicine. Our research question is what is their knowledge of ethnozoological practices? Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews with local inhabitants in Riffian vernacular language. The reliability of the sampling effort was assessed by a rarefaction curve. Data were compared with previous studies in order to determine the geographical and historical extensions of described uses and possible conservation implications for the species used. Results: We obtained information regarding 107 ethnozoological uses based on 197 use reports. Among the 31 species used, mammals were most frequently cited. Diseases related to the traditional medicinal system were most frequently treated with these resources, as well as those of the respiratory, digestive, and musculoskeletal systems. Thirty percent of uses are associated with magico-religious practices. Only three of the species used are threatened at the global level, two of them extinct in the study area, indicating low potential damage to regional biodiversity from current practices utilizing native animals. Within modern Morocco, Riffians have continued practicing ethnozoological uses anathema to Islam, like the consumption of animals considered impure (dogs, jackals, wild boars, and hyenas). Conclusions: The use of primarily mammalian species and of many animal body parts is likely related to the Berber belief in homology between the area of the human body in which the ailment occurs and the corresponding animal body part. These findings unveil the nature of ethnozoological practices, highly linked to folklore and culture-bound conditions, and lacking in the Western empirical rationale for nearly one third of reported uses. The consumption of animals considered impure according to Islam was probably initiated before the conquering of the Maghreb by Arabs in the seventh century and was maintained through the secular isolation of Riffians in mountain areas. This can reflect traditional healing habits being maintained over thousands of years. * Correspondence: [email protected] 2Department of Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Budjaj et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2021) 17:43 Page 2 of 21 Background region of the Eastern Rif in Northern Morocco. During Ethnozoology is the study of people and culture in rela- the Spanish protectorate of Morocco (1912–1956), this tion to surrounding animals [1]. Mason [2], who pro- region began to be visited by herpetologists [29], posed the term, stated that all fauna encountered in a mammalogists [22], and ornithologists [30]. Its her- region enters directly or indirectly into the thoughts and petofauna has recently been inventoried [31, 32], al- lifestyles of each human group. Today, it is considered though the fauna of other continental vertebrate an interdisciplinary field of research [3] that examines groups (fishes, birds, and mammals) is still poorly historic, economic, anthropologic, and environmental known [33–35]. The Rif region is characterized by its aspects of human and animal relationships [1]. The dis- indigenous inhabitants, the Berbers, the native ethnic cipline is currently well integrated into current an- group in the region. The Berbers are comprised of thropological theoretical discussions [4], such as how sedentary farmers and have been present long before humans obtain and transmit knowledge, use their avail- Islamization in the Middle Ages. Morocco is currently able resources, and conserve both the resource and its the Maghrebian country with the highest Berber associated knowledge. Moreover, ethnozoological studies population [36] and houses the purest groups of this can also play an important role in biodiversity conserva- ethnicity [37]. Due to their bellicose character, they tion, as it is difficult to design effective wildlife conserva- have rarely been subdued by other peoples [21]; dur- tion and management strategies in some regions without ing the seventh century Arabic conquest, they were considering ethnozoology [5]. Islamized but not Arabized [20]. The region where Ethnozoology in Africa has performed, and continues they thrived was considered Bled as-Siba (lawless area to perform, a fundamental role within numerous ethnici- out of the control of the Moroccan Sultans) until 100 ties. For example, in Egypt, Khushmaan Ma’aza Bed- years ago [38], and in the Berber language, they pro- ouins, due to the diversity of reptiles in desert claim themselves Imazighen (free men and women). environments, often use them for medicine [6]. The use They constitute two million inhabitants, and their of animals for human health is also still very accepted in language (Amazigh) and writing (Tifinagh) are of Nigeria [7] and Central Sudan [8], and a large propor- clear pre-Islamic origin [36]. Despite a notable genetic tion of people in South Africa will visit a traditional admixture with other Northwestern African popula- healer at least once in their lifetime [9]. tions [39], their cultural differences and independent In Morocco, traditional medicine is locally preserved character, particularly among Riffians, bring added because it is deeply rooted in the knowledge of the rural interest to the ethnozoology of this region in regard culture [10] and because of the distance from the nearest to the exploration of the maintenance of pre-Islamic health centers in rural areas [11]. Fifty-five percent of habits. In North Africa, the Berber religion was based the population was living in rural zones, under poor- on Phoenician and Punic deities, with a god (Baal) quality sanitary conditions while frequently using trad- and a goddess (Tanit), and lacks prohibitions estab- itional medicine (mainly plant-based, followed by lished by Islam [40]. This paganism (with respect to animal-based) at the end of the twentieth century [12]. Islam) was not completely eliminated; Berbers of the The current depopulation of rural areas, along with an Rif adopted the Islamic religion, but it seems they did aging population [13], makes us think that within a few not abandon some pre-Islamic customs, and continue generations, ethnozoological knowledge will be reduced to practice them in a hidden way [21]. We should and, in some cases, disappear. While ethnobotanical also consider that the cost of modern medicine has studies in Morocco are relatively numerous (e.g., [14, been beyond the reach of the Moroccan Berbers until 15]), that is not the case for ethnozoology. Morocco’s few years ago [11], and the study area currently main- proximity to Europe and the early presence of European tains rather scant and scattered medical facilities (au- embassies in the city of Tangier instigated studies of thors, per. obs.). Previous anthropological studies on Moroccan ethnology (including ethnozoological infor- the Moroccan medicinal system (as part of Arabic mation) as early as the first half of the nineteenth cen- medicine) pointed to a pluralistic and ambiguous sys- tury [16–23]. After the country’s independence (in tem from two medical traditions: one indigenous and 1956), however, no further information was published magico-religious, the other alien, scientific, and secu- on the subject until the beginning of the twenty-first lar [41, 42], reflecting a partial syncretism between century. This mostly included studies focused on the im- Prophetic medicine (established after the Prophet’s pact of ethnozoology on wildlife conservation and geo- death), and the Galenic humoral medicine (introduced graphically centered on the Atlantic plains and southern by Arabs [41]). Indeed, in Morocco, religion and be- Morocco [10, 24–28]. liefs play an important role in medical diagnosis and The present field-study is based in the mountainous, treatments, and demons (jnun) are central in explain- highly biodiverse (though less prospected by naturalists) ing daily events of reality