I know whether the snake is poisonous or not by looking at its body: Local gold miners and ex-gold miners Ecological Knowledge regarding the snake fauna in a rural area of Roraima

Abstract

The appreciation of Local Ecological Knowledge is an important alternative to promote the conservation of biodiversity. The purpose of this study is to assess the local ecological knowledge of gold miners and ex gold miners regarding the snake species that are most common in this context and ecological aspects of these animals. The data was collected combining the information from semi structured interviews, informal conversations and free lists that were analysed quali-quantitatively from the Relative Citation Frequency, Multiple Linear Regression and Fidelity Level (FL). The most common species were the Falsa Jararaca (Leptodeira annulata) (FR = 0.94) and Jiboia (Boa constrictor) (FR = 0.89). Overall, this study confirmed that gold miners and ex-gold miners know the main ecological aspects of the snake fauna, describing its. However, it was observed that people utilize characteristics related to the body shape to differentiate a poisonous snake from a non-poisonous one which are not entirely correct and reliable, causing possible misconceptions. These misconceptions can result in the indiscriminate deaths of some species of snakes.