Indigenous knowledge of zootherapeutic use among the Biate tribe of Dima Hasao District, Assam, Northeastern India

Sajem Betlu, Albert Lalduhawma

doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-56

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Table 1 Medicinal uses of animals and animal parts in traditional therapy by the Biate tribe of Dima Hasao district

From: Indigenous knowledge of zootherapeutic use among the Biate tribe of Dima Hasao District, Assam, Northeastern India

Scientific Name/Family	English name	Part used	Dried/Fresh	Disease treated	Method of preparation, use and dosage of medicine	Used Singly/combination with others	Side effects reported	Fidelity level (%)
Class: Reptilia
Ophiophagus hannah (Cant. 1836) /Elapidae	King Cobra	Gall bladder	Dried	Snake bite	Eaten/swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	None	33
Python molurus (Linn., 1758) /Pythonidae	Python	Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes	Eaten/swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once every year.	Singly	None	56
		Gall bladder	Dried	Snake bite	Eaten/swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	None	38
		Flesh	Dried or fresh	Seizure	Eaten cooked with vegetables. No particular dosage.	Singly or in combination with vegetables	None	90
		Fat	Fermented	Sprain	Applied locally	Singly	None	38
		Fat	Fermented	Piles	Applied locally in piles	Singly	None	82
Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) /Varanidae	Monitor Lizard	Fat	Fermented	Burns	Applied locally	Singly	None	61
Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) /Varanidae	Monitor Lizard	Flesh	Dried	Jaundice	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly	None	54
Gekko gecko (Linn. 1758) /Gekkonidae	Tokay Gecko	Flesh	Dried	Impotency	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly	None	38
Melanochelys trijuga (Schw.1812) /Geoemydidae	Indian Pond Terrapin	Flesh	Fresh/Dried	Allergy	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly	None	24
Class : Malacostraca
Paratelphusa sp. (Alcok, 1919) /Paratelphisidae	Fresh water crab	Whole	Fresh	Jaundice	Crabs (especially small ones) are crushed to pulp. The juice extracted is mixed with a little water and boiled till it becomes half of the quantity and then taken. It is often cooked along with banana flower. No particular dosage.	Singly	None	96
Class: Gastropoda
Cryptozona sp (Moerch, 1872) /Ariophantidae	Snail	Whole	Fresh	Rheumatism and Sciatica	Inserted inside a banana for ease of ingestion and swallowed whole. 1 every day for 1 week.	Singly or in combination with edibles	None	36
Lymnaea sp. (Lam. 1822) /Lymnaeidae	Water snail	Flesh	Fresh	Jaundice	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or in combination with vegetables	None	73
Class : Insect
Cimex lectularius (Linn.1758) /Cimicidae	Bed bugs	Whole	Fresh	Malaria	3 bedbugs are swallowed whole, daily for 1 week. It is often inserted in a banana for ease of ingestion.	Singly	None	27
Periplanata americana (Linn. 1758) /Blattidae	Cockroach	Whole	Dried	Tuberculosis	Crushed and eaten. 3 every week for 1 month.	Singly or in combination with edibles	None	2
Class: Aves
Gallus gallus (Linn. 1758) /Phasianidae	Jungle fowl	Fat	Fermented	Burns	Applied locally.	Singly	None	83
Corvus macrorhynchos (Wagler, 1827) /Corvidae	Jungle crow	Flesh	Dried or fresh	Health tonic for the aged	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	82
Rhyticeros undulatus (Shaw, 1811) /Bucerotidae	Wreathed Hornbill	Fat	Fermented	Burns	Applied locally.	Singly	None	45
Passer domesticus (Linn. 1758) /Passeridae	House Sparrow	Brain	Fresh	Impotency	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	27
Myophonus caeruleus (Scopoli, 1786) /Turdidae	Blue whistling Thrush	Flesh	Dried	Meat allergy	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	37
Buceros bicornis (Linn. 1758) /Bucerotidae	Great Hornbill	Fat	Fermented	Arthritis	Applied locally.	Singly	None	60
Upupa epops (Linn. 1758) /Upupidae	Hoopoe	Flesh	Dried	Gall bladder stone	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Cooked with Marsdenia sp	None	75
Class: Mammalia
Manis crassicaudata (E. Geof. 1803) /Manidae	Indian Pangolin	Scales	Dried	Hook worm	1 scale, crushed to powder and taken with water.	Singly	None	87
Canis aureus (Linn. 1758) /Canidae	Golden Jackal	Flesh	Dried	Tuberculosis	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	48
		Flesh	Fresh	Joint pain	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	44
		Gall bladder	Dried	Malaria	Swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	None	36
Muntiacus muntjak (Zimm. 1780) /Cervidae	Barking Deer	Flesh	Dried or fresh	Easy conception	Cooked and eaten. No particular dosage.	Singly or with vegetables	None	57
Eonycteris spelaea (Dobson, 1871) /Pteropodidae	Bat	Flesh	Dried	Eneuresis	Cooked and eaten. No dosage	Singly	None	81
Melursus ursinus (Shaw, 1791) /Ursidae	Sloth Bear	Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes	Swallowed whole atleast twice in a year	Singly	None	78
Melursus ursinus (Shaw, 1791) /Ursidae	Sloth Bear	Gall bladder	Dried	Easy delivery of a child	Swallowed whole before delivery. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	Decreases lactation which becomes normal again after 3–6 days.	93
Ursus thibetanus (Cuvier, 1823) /Ursidae	Himalayan Black Bear	Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes	Swallowed whole atleast twice in a year.	Singly	None	82
Ursus thibetanus (Cuvier, 1823) /Ursidae	Himalayan Black Bear	Gall bladder	Dried	Easy delivery of a child	Swallowed whole before delivery. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	Decreases lactation which becomes normal again after 3–6 days.	89
Hoolock hoolock (Harlan, 1834) /Hylobatidae	Hoolock Gibbon	Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes	Swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	None	87
		Flesh	Dried	Tonic for pregnant women	It is cooked with vegetables and taken. No dosage	In combination with different vegetables	None	80
		Brain	Fresh	Tonic for pregnant women	Cooked and eaten. Believed to be an excellent health tonic especially for a pregnant women and her unborn child. No dosage	Singly	None	68
		Bone	Dried	Rheumatism	A piece of bone is usually tied around the foot, leg or waist	Singly	None	97
		Skull bone	Dried	Dizziness	Piece of skull bone is tied to the head.	Singly	None	3
		Hand	Dried	Hernia	Smoked dried hand is used to rub down the affected area.	Singly	None	16
Capricornis sumatraensis (Bechstein, 1799) /Bovidae	Mainland Serow	Front foot	Dried	Joint pains, rheumatism	The affected area is usually hammered gently every day	Singly	None	74
Capricornis sumatraensis (Bechstein, 1799) /Bovidae	Mainland Serow	Urine	Fresh	Diabetes	~ 5 ml once in a month.	Singly	None	24
Nycticebus coucang (Boddaert, 1785) /Lorisidae	Slow Loris	Fur	Dried	Cuts & wounds and bed sore	Applied locally	Singly	None	31
Canis lupus familiaris (Linn. 1758) /Canidae	Dog	Blood	Fresh warm	Chronic malaria	~ 100 ml of fresh blood is drunk while still warm	Singly	None	58
		Blood	Fresh warm	Epilepsy	~ 50 ml fresh blood mixed with alcohol (preferably local rice beer) is taken once.	Singly	Slight dizziness and nausea	10
		Flesh	Dried or fresh	Epilepsy	Cooked and eaten. No dosage	In combination with different vegetables	None	38
Macaca assamensis (McClelland, 1840) /Cercopithecidae	The Assamese Macaque	Flesh	Dried	Tonic for pregnant women	Cooked and eaten. No dosage	In combination with different vegetables	None	61
		Brain	Fresh	Tonic for pregnant women	Cooked and eaten. Believed to be an excellent health tonic especially for a pregnant women and her child. No dosage	Singly	None	27
		Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes	Swallowed whole. 1 whole piece once.	Singly	None	77
		Smoked dried hand	Dried	Mumps	It is used to tap gently in and around the affected area.	Singly	None	63
Hystrix indica (Kerr, 1792) /Hystricidae	Indian Crested Porcupine	Flesh	Dried or fresh	Easy delivery of a child	Cooked and eaten. No dosage	In combination with different vegetables	None	38
Elephas maximus (Linn,1758) /Elephantidae	Asian Elephant	Teeth	Dried or fresh	Toothache	The thick hair on the tail is used to pick the affected tooth.	Singly	None	4
Lutrogale perspicillata (Geoffroy, 1826) /Mustelidae	Smooth coated otter	Flesh	Dried or fresh	Fish bone stuck in the throat	Soup prepared is taken slowly. No dosage	Cooked with lady’s finger.	None	3
Lutrogale perspicillata (Geoffroy, 1826) /Mustelidae	Smooth coated otter	Fur	Dried or fresh	Burns	Applied locally till it heals	Singly	None	2
Trachypithecus pileatus (Blyth, 1843) /Cercopithecidae	Capped langur	Tongue	Dried	Food poisoning	Cooked and eaten. No dosage	In combination with different vegetables	None	8
Sus scrofa (Linn. 1758) /Suidae	Wild Boar	Fat	Fresh	Hair care	Fats are fried to produce oil which is applied daily.	Singly	None	45
Trachypithecus cristatus (Raffles, 1821) /Cercopithecidae	Silvered Leaf Monkey	Gall bladder	Dried	Diabetes & High Blood Pressure	At least 3 pieces are eaten, one per day at intervals of a few days to lower diabetes. The same applies for high blood pressure.	Singly	None	82

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ISSN: 1746-4269

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