cut into pieces - be it the flesh, tail, eyes,
head, teeth, fat, rattle, carapace or even
cloaca - and sold at markets as trinkets.
Sadly, many a boa or python has been
beheaded in Africa and Brazil to protect
against witches. In Brazil, just about every-
thing - including the excrement - from Boa
constrictor is used to promote success in
love, and with money, gambling, travel,
and business dealings.
Countless reptiles are similarly slaughtered
to create ‘love potions’ or concoctions to
enhance virility. In Brazil, solutions
containing reptiles suspended in rose water
or alcohol are sold as perfumes with the
promise the user will achieve love and
financial success. Across Asia, reptiles are
preserved in wine or spirits, or consumed in
special restaurants in a macabre pantomime
which reinforces the ‘manly’ nature of the
ritual.
As part of a ridiculous belief in homeopa-
thy, some reptiles are used in products
whereby it is believed the qualities of that
reptile will be transferred to the human
who inhales, ingests, or applies them. For
example, preparations derived from slow-
moving reptiles are meant to have a calm-
ing effect.
In fact, reptiles are one of the most
frequently used groups of animals in
traditional folk medicine. In a review
published in Biodiversity Conservation
(2008), at least 165 reptile species belong-
ing to 104 genera and 30 families were
found to be used in traditional medicine;
53% of these species were listed as
endangered. Alarmingly, these figures
must represent an underestimation, as the
authors only obtained information from
published data, and only included species
that could be positively identified. Snakes
comprised the greatest number of species
(60), follows by lizards (51), turtles and
tortoises (43) and crocodilians (11).
Because of a lack of effective regulation,
the magnitude of the harvesting of reptiles
for folk remedies is difficult to determine.
Attempts to quantify this practice have
produced disturbing results, which more-
over are again certainly underestimates. He
and Peng (1999) reported that 1.4x10 7 kg of
snakes are consumed in the Guangdong
Province of China per year, and Zheng and
Zhang (2000) detailed that from 1990-
1995, demand for wild snakes from 13
traditional Chinese medicine factories
totalled 1,656.77kg of Black Striped
Opposite page: Bengal Monitors
(Varanus bengalensis) in Laos.
This species is used to treat
everything from rheumatism to
snake bite.
Image by Opas Mitsom.
Above: Chinese Soft-shell Turtle
(Pelodiscus sinensis). Chelonians
are sought-after for traditional
medicine, and are the most
endangered group of vertebrates
on the planet.
Image by Pan Xunbin
Left: bottled alcohol containing a
cobra and a scorpion.
Image by PicMy.