outsiders, or cowocJe. was a significant factor influencing the 



W 



avoid ail major rivers, which they considered the domain o\ 







w 



Hmited to the small feeder streams of the interfluvial forest. They 

 considered the common Amazonian sources of protein, such as 

 large catfish, water fowl and turtle eggs, to be taboo, and ate only 

 a few of the fifty or more species of fish and numerous aquatic 

 animals available to them. Although they maintain garden plots 

 and deri\cd a considerable amount of their carbohydrate intake 

 from them, there is some evidence that agriculture came late 

 (Yost. 1981a). Today, the Waorani still consider themselves peo- 

 ple of the forest and deri\'e most of their protein and \irtually all 

 of their minerals and vitamins from it. 



Given the Waorani identification with the forest, both psycho- 

 logically and cosmologically, and given their dependence upon 

 the forest for much of their diet, it is not surprising that the 

 Waorani are exceptionally skilled ecologists. The sophistication 

 oftheir interpretation of biological relationships is demonstrated 

 in their recognition and understanding of such conceptually 

 complex phenomena as pollination and dispersal and in their 

 understanding ofthe interdependence of animal and plant cycles, 



which enables them accurately to predict animal behavior. They 

 anticipate the flowering and fruiting cycles of edible forest plants 

 and know not only what species most forest animals prefer to feed 

 on, but what part ofthe plant and in what stage of development 



they prefer it. 



This intimate knowledge ofthe forest ecology, together with 

 their long isolation as a people, make the Waorani an ideal group 

 for ethnobotanical investigation. Based on interviews with the 

 Waorani and on nine years of experience with them, we estimate 

 that we have collected approximately 80% ofthe plants known to 

 be used by the Waorani. Our data show a surprising dearth of 

 medicinal plants (cf. Davis and Yost, in press), a peculiar use of 

 hallucinogens and a particularly high utilization of wild foods. 



Biomedical studies done at the time of contact or shortly there- 

 after describe a remarkably healthy people with very minimal 

 problems with epidemic disease, internal parasites or bacterial 



162 



