TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Species perceived to be dangerous are more likely to have distinctive local names
JO  - Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine
A1  - Farooq, Harith
A1  - Bero, Cláudio
A1  - Guilengue, Yolanda
A1  - Elias, Clementina
A1  - Massingue, Yasalde
A1  - Mucopote, Ivo
A1  - Nanvonamuquitxo, Cristóvão
A1  - Marais, Johan
A1  - Antonelli, Alexandre
A1  - Faurby, Søren
SP  - e69
EP  - e69
VL  - 17
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Species with direct uses, such as sources of food, shelter, building material and medicine tend to have more specific local names. But could the same apply for species that people fear? METHODS: To address this question, here we explore the behavior and perception of species diversity and dangerousness through a survey of 1037 households in nine villages in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique. We compare people's knowledge of snakes with that of lizards and amphibians. <br><br>RESULTS: We find that northern Mozambicans know four to five times more local names for snakes than for lizards and frogs, despite the local species richness of snakes being comparable to the diversity of lizards and frogs. We further find that local knowledge was on par with the academic literature regarding snakebite symptoms. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that fear can increase the level of specificity in naming species among indigenous communities, which could lead to biases in the mapping and protection of species that include data from citizen reports.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1746-4269
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-021-00493-6
ID  - ref1
ER  -