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Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

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Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

Studies on the interconnection between human and nonhuman primates in the

Neotropics have been expanding progressively and exponentially since the term
ethnoprimatology was coined by Leslie E.  Sponsel in 1997 after completing
anthropological field research among Venezuelan indigenous peoples (e.g., Sponsel
1981) and being a visiting scholar at the Center for Anthropology of the Venezuelan
Institute for Scientific Research in Caracas. After 5 years of such disciplinary inau-
guration, to our knowledge, only two studies mentioned this term explicitly
(Cormier 2000; Urbani and Gil 2001). The rise of this primatological branch for
the Neotropics started when three chapters published in the book Primates Face to
Face. The Conservation Implications of Human-Nonhuman Primate
Interconnections (2002) edited by Agustín Fuentes and Linda D. Wolfe, emerged
(Cormier 2002, Lizarralde 2002, Shepard 2002), and later the hallmark monograph
by Cormier (2003) appeared. Prior to this moment, publications devoted fully to
Neotropical ethnoprimatology, under Sponsel’s definition, were counted around a
couple of dozen (see review: Urbani 2002), including the pieces of Castro et al.
(1975), Queiroz and Kipnis (1991), Townsend (1995), and Fleck et al. (1999). This
novel line of ethnographical and primatological research received limited support,
and it was not until a decade passed since 1997 when intellectual paradigms
changed and a number of novel ethnoprimatological publications from the tropical
Americas were launched (e.g., Voss and Fleck 2011; Stafford 2015; Roncal et al.
2018). Now, by presenting this book, our hope, as editors, is to stimulate further
research on ethnoprimatology in this region, engaging new theoretical and meth-
odological questions.
Nevertheless, before, several regional ethnographical works clearly showed that
indigenous societies are intrinsically linked to the primates living in their lands in
many elements of their culture, such as their cosmology, diet, pets, and specific
body adornments (e.g., head- or arm-bands and necklaces with monkey teeth), or
the use of skins as shaman pouches and leather for drums. Their bones are used as
tools to pierce earlobes in adulthood ceremonies or in looms to make clothing and
stems for their tobacco pipes. In some societies, such as the Toba-Qom (Medrano
and Suárez, this volume), Lokono, Kari’na, and Warao (Rybka this volume),

xi
xii Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

monkeys are even believed to predict weather changes or to anticipate rain. Today,
this belief of indigenous root is so widespread that current peasants from Central
and South America indicate that howler monkeys are howling when rain is coming.
Additionally, monkey meat was also considered very important in the diet of indig-
enous societies in the past according to British explorer Henry Walter Bates or
anthropologist Michael J. Harner (1973), who also presented a rich body of images
of monkeys and the Jivaro. Another iconic ethnography is the work of the ethnog-
rapher Charles Wagley who began his Amazonian research in the late 1930s. He
recorded that the Tapirapé of Brazil use sharp monkey bones to pierce the lower lip
of males at birth (Wagley 1977). He also highlighted the reference of monkey in
socialization in this statement: “When a boy became churangí (young adolescent),
his behavior was likened to that of a monkey” (Wagley 1977: 1949); thus a com-
mon name for boys who are mischievous is kai, meaning “monkey” in Tapirapé
(Wagley 1977). These are a few of the many examples illustrating how diluted the
information about monkeys in the literature on indigenous peoples has become.
One might argue that given the own nonindigenous background of past authors had
a preference to particularly show the exotic animals of the forests of indigenous
societies, such as primates, but actually the literature serves as an empirical evi-
dence of these abundant and rich interactions between indigenous peoples and
monkeys in their lands (e.g., Urbani 2005; Cormier 2006). However, most of these
publications provided a glimpse of these interactions until the first ethnoprimato-
logical works from the Neotropics emerged as indicated in the first paragraph of
this introductory chapter. This volume is the first compilation that provides exam-
ples of the richness of these interactions in 25 different indigenous cultures in 10
countries of the tropical regions of the American continent.
This edited volume has a total of 18 chapters (Table  1). They are written by
authors of different cultural backgrounds and with multiple perspectives. As can be
observed in the table of contents, majority of the chapters are led by Latin American
scholars or permanent non-Latin American residents in the region (13/18; 72%),
and almost two-thirds of the first authors are women (11/18; 61%). The ethnoprima-
tological studies presented here referred to indigenous peoples inhabiting their
ancestral territories from southern Mexico to northern Argentina (Fig. 1). Again, as
can be seen in the table of contents, most of the chapters are based on research con-
ducted in Mexico and Venezuela (three entries each), followed by studies from
Guyana, Ecuador, and Peru with two pieces per country and single chapters from
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala. There is also a research on
Yanomami ethnoprimatology in their binational territory between Brazil and
Venezuela. Indigenous lands with monkey communities of two species in Argentina
up to 14 in the Peruvian Amazon are ethnoprimatologically explored, but overall
indigenous landscapes in the tropical Americas with multiple cultural and natural
challenges are examined in the context of complex human/nonhuman primate inter-
faces. These chapters provide an exceptional sample of the nearly 500 indigenous
societies in the Neotropics interacting with many of the 171 monkey species of the
New World (Oviedo et al. 2000; Estrada et al. 2017).
Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction xiii

Table 1  Synopsis of the ethnoprimatological studies present in this edited volume

# in
Fig. 1 Indigenous society Linguistic familya Country Chapter author(s)
1 Popoluca Mixe-Zoquean Mexico M. Pinto-Marroquin
and J. C. Serio-Silva
2 Maya, Tzeltal/ Mayan, Mixe- Mexico E. Urquiza-Haas,
Chol, Zoque, Zoquean, Totonacan, R. I. Ojeda Martínez,
Totonac, and and composite and K. Kotrschal
Creole
3 Lacandon Maya Mayan Mexico Y. García del Valle,
F. Ruan-Soto, F. Guerrero-
Martínez, and
F. Reyes-Escutia
4 Maya-Q’eqchi’ Mayan Guatemala M. Rosales-Meda
and M. S. Hermes
5 Tikuna Tukuna-Juri Colombia A. Maldonado and
(Independent) S. Waters
6 Barí Chibchan Venezuela M. Lizarralde
7 Mapoyo Kariban Venezuela B. Urbani
8 Jotï Independent Venezuela S. Zent and E. Zent
9 Yanomami Yanomaman Brazil and J. P. Boubli, B. Urbani,
(Independent) Venezuela H. Caballero-Arias,
G. H. Shepard Jr.,
and M. Lizarralde
10 Waimiri Atroari Kariban Brazil R. R. de Souza-Mazurek
and A. C. Bruno
11 Kari’na, Lokono, Kariban/Arawakan Guyana K. Rybka
and Warao (Independent)
12 Wapishana Arawakan Guyana T. Henfrey
13 Secoya Tukanoan Ecuador S. de la Torre, P Yépez,
and A. Payaguaje
14 Waorani Sabala (Independent) Ecuador M. Franzen-Levin
15 Shawi Kawapanan Peru L. González-Saavedra
16 Wampis Jivaroan Peru K. Swierk
(Huambisa)
17 Tacana Tacanan Bolivia W. R. Townsend,
R. B. Wallace,
K. Lara-Delgado,
and G. Miranda-Chumacero
18 Qom (Toba) Guaycuruan Argentina C. Medrano and V. Suárez
a
Lizarralde (1989) and Oviedo et al. (2000)

The first chapter included in this edited volume studies the relationship between
the Popoluca and two primate species (Alouatta palliata and Ateles geoffroyi) found
in Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Marianna Pinto-Marroquin and Juan Carlos Serio-Silva
found that this indigenous society has strong cosmological beliefs and that the
Popoluca also use primates as pets and in medical alignments. In general, they sug-
gest that empathy with local monkeys by the Popoluca might promote primate con-
servation in a highly endangered ecosystem of the Neotropics. Additionally, in
xiv Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

Fig. 1  Location of the ethnoprimatological studies present in this edited volume (map by
M. Lizarralde, after an open-access base map from Wiki Commons)

Mexico, Esmeralda Urquiza-Haas and collaborators provide a provocative approach

in ethnoprimatology: the study of mental state attributions. By interviewing partici-
pants of multiple ethnical backgrounds (Maya, Tzeltal/Chol, Zoque, Totonac, and
Creole) at the Yucatan village of Conhuas, the authors explore the way the villagers
attribute moral rights to primates and other animals. In doing so, concepts of emo-
tion and intelligence are studied as they are perceived in howler and spider mon-
keys. A chapter about the Lacandon people in Chiapas (Mexico), written by
Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction xv

Yasminda García del Valle and collaborators, focuses on the rich interaction of this
Mayan culture with two different monkey species (Alouatta pigra and Ateles geof-
froyi), providing a deep perspective from pre-Hispanic times to the present. They
show the importance of monkeys through mural painting in caves and pottery art
work. In the Popol Vuh, a very important sacred Mayan text, the origin of monkeys
and other folktales for their cosmological role are well described, where spider
monkeys are shown as transcribers and important administrators. The authors also
interview the Lacandon about the importance of animals, revealing that monkeys
rank 9th and 12th in their cultural significance out of 35 taxa. At the end of their
chapter, they explain that monkeys are no longer threatened by hunting since the
Lacandon see them as important attractions to tourists as economic incentives to
their protection. To conclude the section devoted to ethnoprimatological studies car-
ried out in Mesoamerica, Marleny Rosales-Meda and María Susana Hermes share a
stimulating study on the interconnection between the Maya-Q’eqchi’ and primates
of their ancestral lands in Guatemala. The authors show how tied and long cultural
links among the indigenous people, howlers, and spider monkeys are positively
affecting primate populations and forest conservation. Rosales-Meda and Hermes
encourage decision-makers to inform themselves about the cosmological visions of
indigenous societies prior to proposing resolutions regarding biodiversity
preservation.
Landing in South America, Angela M. Maldonado and Siân Waters provide cur-
rent views on the Tikuna ethnoprimatology of Colombia. The authors show that
Tikuna insertion into current market economy has changed their relations with the
monkeys of their territory. Food taboos on primates diminished, and overexploita-
tion consequently increased. The authors suggest alternatives to generate incomes,
such as community-based primate watching. Near the border of Colombia, Manuel
Lizarralde provides a novel Barí ethnoprimatological study from the Venezuelan
side of the Sierra de Perijá. The author presents extensive ethnoecological informa-
tion on the plants used by the four primate species that sympatrically live in the
Bari’s lands. Based on this data, he suggests that Neotropical forests might be
labeled as primatogenic forests created by human and nonhuman primates.
Also in Venezuela, Bernardo Urbani writes on the Mapoyo, an almost extinct
Carib language but living culture. He addresses on perceptions and changes on their
relationship with their monkeys. The Mapoyo no longer use the four species of
monkeys as their ancestors did, but they remember how they were used in the past.
Urbani gathered a rich ethnographic data from colonial time to recent anthropologi-
cal research provides a robust body of information about monkeys’ uses, distribu-
tion, ecology, and role in their cosmology. However, this chapter provides evidence
on the relationship between the indigenous peoples and their monkeys in the future
because of Mapoyo process of cultural changes. Stanford Zent and Egleé Zent, in
their chapter, provide a rich ecological “multi-species” ethnography on the Jotï peo-
ple residing in the Venezuelan Guayana, addressing six different monkey species.
They provide a complex text on the cosmological role, as well as food, contributing
about one third of all hunted animals. Also, Zent and Zent share a deep knowledge
of the Jotï’s ecology and taxonomy of their monkeys. For the Jotï, the most impor-
xvi Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

tant primate is the spider monkey, from mythological to subsistence reasons. In

Venezuela-Brazil border, Jean P. Boubli and collaborators present a comprehensive
literature review on the Yanomami perception and the use of ten species of
Amazonian primates, as well as field information from villages of both sides of the
border. The interconnections between this indigenous society and monkeys are
extensive and involve material culture, hunting, food taboos, cosmology, and the
use of monkeys as pets. Hunting practices are increasingly revised within the con-
text of current possible unsustainability of nonhuman primate populations.
Rosélis R. de Souza-Mazurek and Ana Carla Bruno examine the role of primates
among the Waimiri Atroari of Brazil. Primates are fundamental subjects in the cos-
mology of these indigenous people, and three cebid species are preferred in hunting
games. Taboos on the consumption of monkeys exist among the Waimiri Atroari. In
Guyana, Konrad Rybka makes a linguistic and environmental comparison of three
societies, the Lokono, Kari’na, and Warao, in the Moruka River. This research ques-
tions how cultures borrowed ethnoecological information in their environmental
adaptation in a multiethnic region. Rybka compares the same indigenous societies
and their ethnographic literature on regions where they are the dominant and the
sole society. According to him, “languages are highly sensitive to environmental
pressures” since sympatric monkeys might share names borrowed from other indig-
enous societies or drop or retain terms for primates “independently of the cultural
import of their referents.” In another study, also in Guyana, on the Wapishana,
Thomas Henfrey makes a comparison between the local ecological knowledge and
scientific knowledge. The Wapishana have empirical detailed information of six dif-
ferent diurnal monkeys.
In western Amazonia, Stella de la Torre and coauthors navigate into the realms
of Secoya ethnoprimatology of Ecuador. The authors suggest that this indigenous
society’s knowledge on primates is at risk and that some primate species in the ter-
ritory of the Secoya are locally extinct as unsustainable activities increased. As sug-
gested by Maldonado and Waters, the authors also advocate for ecologically
sustainable sources for economic viability. Also in Ecuador, Margaret Franzen
Levin explores the relationship between the Waorani and primates in their commu-
nities. Monkeys are frequently used as game species. As hunting continues,
­large-­bodied monkeys are at risk, and spider monkeys are highly vulnerable. From
Peru, Luisa González-Saavedra presents information on the Shawi cosmovision
about monkeys. She indicates that the Shawi have a close interconnection with a
large primate community in their lands, including other four arboreal mammals also
classified as “monkeys.” González-Saavedra found that by understanding the cos-
mological origin of monkey species, it is also possible to find the cultural origin of
the Shawi themselves. In another chapter also in Peru, Kacper Świerk provides an
ethnoprimatological case of the Wampis coexisting with a rich primate community
that includes 14 different species. He provides a deep description of the ecology and
subsistence of these indigenous people as well as a complex body of Wampis
mythologies associated with monkeys. Also, it includes a detailed biogeographical
distribution of monkeys that the author was able to learn from the Wampis in a rapid
biological assessment of their population in their territory, especially focusing on
Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction xvii

the Kampankis mountains where the Peruvian government is planning to establish

a national park. However, Świerk points out that the Wampis would like to keep
using this ancestral land for their own resources.
Looking at the southern part of the continent, Wendy R.  Townsend and col-
leagues study the hunting practices of the Tacana of Bolivia. Various primates are
game species, although spider monkeys are preferred as they are considered to be
particularly tasty. The Tacana prefer to travel longer in order to hunt Ateles chamek
even if other primate taxa are nearby their villages. As this and other monkeys are
increasingly important in hunting, as they culturally are, the authors provide quan-
titative data for potential use in decision-making policies regarding the sustainabil-
ity of this arboreal mammal group in northern Bolivia. The last chapter by Celeste
Medrano and Valentín Suárez (a member of the indigenous society) on the Qom
(Toba) of northeastern Argentina is on the cultural and cosmological interpretation
of one primate species, the black-and-gold howler monkey. They examine the cul-
tural perception of the Qom of their monkeys from an ontological and interpretative
perspective. Also, Medrano and Suárez provide a comprehensive collection of
myths in relation to monkeys from the literature.
Interestingly enough is that when M. Lizarralde was starting to write this intro-
duction chapter in Manzano Alto, Merida, Venezuela, after 10 days of silence, he
started hearing howler monkeys just half a kilometer from his mother’s home.
Similarly and at the same time, it occurred to B. Urbani when began to write this
piece at a field site in a remaining northern Venezuelan rainforest. Hearing the
howler monkeys was a relief to know that they still exist in those mountainous for-
ests. The question we ask as editors is: what could be the eventual fate of monkeys
in Neotropical forests? There has already been bad news regarding their disappear-
ance. The Neotropical region holds 171 of the world’s primate species, 33.9% of the
504 species known globally (Estrada et al. 2017). However, 36% of primate species
are threatened with extinction, and 63% of them have declined due to deforestation,
mostly to agriculture and cattle ranching as well as logging, mining, and fossil fuel
extraction (Estrada et  al. 2017). This volume and many other publications have
highlighted that hunting primates has not been sustainable due to increasing human
population, low fertility rate for larger monkeys, introduction of western t­ echnology,
and decrease of indigenous people’s territory due to colonization. However, there is
also good news. Some indigenous societies, from the Lacandon Maya and Popoluca
in Mexico to the Tikuna of Colombia and the Secoya of Ecuador (this volume), have
been trying to conserve and protect monkey populations by not hunting them
because they know that these monkeys not only play an important role in their eco-
system but could also be an ecotourism attraction in their communities. Hopefully,
this is the beginning of a new path toward primate conservation and protection in
these forests in the twenty-first century.
We, as humans, are not exempt of a cultural baggage that modulates our percep-
tions of nature. Looking at our closest relatives empathically and with a culturally
driven view enables us to think holistically about the future of human and nonhu-
man primates alike. Primatologists, historically, have tended to view their discipline
as nonhuman primate-centered, and on the contrary, ethnographers, sometimes,
xviii Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction

seem to focus mainly, or exclusively, anthropocentrically. Given these realms, eth-

noprimatology is actually designated as an opportunity to balance both ways of
approaching and socially appropriating our Order. Ethnoprimatology provides an
ample understanding of nonhuman primate populations and human societies that
are at risk for survival, after crossing into the twenty-first century, in which not only
the knowledge about nonhuman primates and other organisms will be lost but also
the societies. Figure 2 epitomizes the previous statement. This evocative image rep-
resents fragile colored feathers covering a cranium of an endangered woolly mon-
key (Brachyteles arachnoides) made by a member of a possibly extinct Tupi society
living in the threatened Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Still, there is time to change the
unbalance, and ethnoprimatologists have a fundamental role in this endeavor.
To conclude, we envision this volume as a novel forum for thinking ethnoprima-
tologically. Therefore, the content of this edited volume provides a wide range of
approaches and perspectives that form an excellent collection of cases which mainly

Fig. 2  Fabaceae seeds fixed with bee wax and feathers on a cranium of Brachyteles arachnoides
from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Piece #1950–41 of the Collections Mammifères et Oiseaux –
Anatomie comparée at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris. Photograph by
B. Urbani)
Neotropical Ethnoprimatology: An Introduction xix

focus on how indigenous societies relate to Neotropical primates and vice versa. We
hope that the chapters in this book will serve as a framework for future ethnoprima-
tological research that, as stated previously, will necessarily need to ask novel theo-
retical and methodological inquiries as well as to follow multi-faceted approaches.

Centro de Antropología, Instituto Venezolano Bernardo Urbani

de Investigaciones Científicas
Caracas, Venezuela 
Department of Botany and Environmental Manuel Lizarralde
Studies Program, Connecticut College
New London, CT, USA

 cknowledgments  Thanks to Erika Wagner for her comments on the text and to Jacques Cuisin
A
for his hospitality at the Museum of Natural History of Paris (BU) and for allowing the publication
of Fig. 2.

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