Research on Neo-Tropical Non-Domestic Animals (Wildlife) Part 3: The Work at the UWI 2002 to 2024; Latin American Collaboration

Abstract

This paper is the third in a three-part series. It includes over 150 references mainly spanning 2002 - 2024. This does not include hundreds of abstracts and papers presented at each of the CIMFAUNA (Congreso Internacional sobre Manejo de Fauna Silvestre en la Amazonía y Latinoamérica) between 2004 and 2023 and many other publications from South and Central American institutions; this will be a mammoth task for the future. The first paper in this three-part series was an attempt to cover what became known about Neo-tropical non-domestic animals from 1492 to 1995. In that paper the term “natural history” was explained and the origins of the terms “wildlife”, “wildlife ecology” and “wildlife management” were presented. Part 1 showed how the early work was based on a natural history perspective; the paper began by stating the lessons learnt about Neo-tropical animals from the time of the arrival of the Spanish into the new world/Neo-tropics to 1995 (over 500 years). This was necessary as all the mentifacts and sociofacts of the new world/Neo-tropical civilisations were destroyed through the destruction of the existing civilisations by conquest or diseases. The lessons learnt were that scientific researchers and policy makers had put Neo-tropical animals on their backburners. Additionally, the knowledge of these animals up to 1995, were contained within the experiences of zookeepers and animal curators at the modern-day zoos, both within and outside of the Neo-tropics. There was also still a lack of the proper understanding of the digestive and reproductive systems of these animals, which was and is the basis for intensive animal production systems or ex situ living conservation. Part 2 covered the period 1996 - 2001 in which the principles of domestic animal production were being applied and production modelling concepts were being developed for Neo-tropical animals. Part 3 is a review of work done from the perceptive of the author, a UWI St Augustine anglophone scholar who was trained in domestic animal production). It is an account of the research work conducted by and the experiences of the author on Neo-tropical non-domestic animals conservation, production, utilisation and health during the period 2002 - 2024. This third and final paper documents the literature and experiences from 2001 to the present (the last 23 years). Great strides have been made with the understanding of Neo-tropical non-domestic animals through South-South collaboration between scientists in Central and South America and the Caribbean, i.e. a non-Eurocentric motive and perspective. The establishment and work of the COMFAUNA and CIMFAUNA (since 1992 to the present) has been a key initiative by Professor Richard Bodmer (of the University of Kent), with the support of Fund Amazonia and the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation, in driving the South-South collaboration on Neo-tropical animals. Important initiatives and publications and documentation coming out of Brazil and other South American countries are described. The Belem Zoo, the Cervid Initiative at the University of Sao Paulo and the primate and wildlife research initiatives of the Universidade de San Marcos in Iquitos, Peru were highlighted. The Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz in Bahia, Brazil, the INRA initiative of French Guyana and the initiatives of Dr Wendy Townsend in Bolivia on the documenting of the native knowledge of the flora and fauna of the inhabitants of Bolivia were all mentioned. A way forward for Neo-tropical animals conservation, production, utilisation and health was suggested.