Ethnozoological survey of Non conventional food items and their therapeutic use by the traditional healers of Dhemaji district of Assam, North-East India

Assam one of the North Eastern states of India is gifted with diverse natural resources and inhabited by varied ethnic communities. Dhemaji district of Assam is also not exceptional in this regard. A survey was conducted on zootherapeutics among the traditional healers of Dhemaji district through personal interview from 2016 January to 2017 January in fifteen non tribal inhabited villages among 75 respondents of the age group 50-70years. It was documented that the ethnic people of Dhemaji used a total of 26 species of non conventional food items for their therapeutic value against various ailments including itching, burning, asthma, paralysis, weakness etc. These species include varieties of vertebrate and invertebrate species such as arthropods, molluscs, amphibians, aves, reptiles, pisces and mammals depending on their seasonal availability. The highest no of animal species used for the traditional therapeutics is mammals (29%) followed by pisces (19%), arthropoda and reptiles(15%), aves (13%) and the least are amphibia and mollusca (each comprises only 4% species). The study reveals that the ethnic people of Dhemaji are rich in traditional therapeutics and proper documentation and scientific analysis may lead to new drug discovery and conservation of these valuable faunal species.