Ethnozoology in the mountains. What does the cognitive salience of wild animals tell us?

WAJNER, M ; TAMBURINI, D ; ZAMUDIO, F

Ethnobiology and conservation

Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Lugar: Pernambuco; Año: 2019 vol. 8 p. 1 - 23

2238­4782

In recent times, ethnobiology has revived interest in cognitive aspects of humans? communities.A concept commonly used in this area is cognitive salience. In this paper we assess the wildanimal salience meaning for the rural people from an area of the mountain range of theCórdoba province (Argentina). We also analyzed the relationship of cultural and ecologicalfactors over wild animal domain salience. The values of cognitive salience, perception andcultural value were obtained by means of free lists to 16 collaborators, while semi­structuredinterviews were used to inquire about local ecological knowledge and ease of observationabout wild animals. The interdependence between the five variables elaborated was analyzedthrough a Principal Components Regression. The results show a qualitative relationshipbetween Cognitive Salience and Cultural Value and a significant correlation between CognitiveSalience and Local Ecological Knowledge. Ease of Observation did not correlate with CognitiveSalience, but show a significant relationship with the Perceived Abundance. The resultssuggest a complex network of factors that are modeling the cognitive salience and localperceptions over wild animals. In our findings, highlight the Cultural Value given to harmfulanimals which reflects an increasing pattern in the region, the conflict between rural people andwild animals. In turn a mutual influences and causal feedback loops between cognitive salienceand an ecological factor, the Perceived abundance, is proposed. Investigations over cognitionand about how people perceived nature can give us an idea of how they act in it, a compellingfactor when it comes to cultural and biological conservation issues.