For the pastoralist Nuer people who migrate with the seasons between western Ethiopia’s Gambella region and Africa’s largest wetland, the Sudd, in South Sudan, birds are gaatkuoth or “sacred children of God.” The community has identified at least 71 bird species that are culturally important to them and useful in traditional medicine, as well as to find fish or bushmeat, researcher Abebayehu Aticho said in an interview with Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo published in July.
“The connection between these birds and people is not just spiritual,” said Aticho, who published a study about the human-bird interaction in western Ethiopia. “The Nuer people depend on them to forecast weather and follow birds to find fish stocks and species in the wetlands.”
He added the Nuer observe migratory birds in particular for weather forecasting.
“During the rainy season, cranes move from [their] usual areas to isolated breeding grounds and come back in the dry season. This is associated with seasonal changes,” Aticho said.
“They hear the birdcalls and associate their behavior, which helps them predict upcoming seasons,” he added. “For instance, when a sedge of cranes gathers, making harmonious calls, they expect that the rainy season will come very soon.”
Of the more than 83 ethnic groups in Ethiopia, the Nuer people are in a relatively secure area with adequate water and grazing lands, Aticho said. He added the group has long coexisted harmoniously with nature, and is largely dependent on wetlands.
“When I visited the community, I realized the Nuer people have a peaceful way of life and a different culture compared to other regions,” he said.
Some communities in northern Ethiopia, for instance, don’t have the same spiritual connection with the birds. The Nuer, though, name their children, especially twins, after birds, or wear amulets made from feathers for protection.
“And these beliefs help them guide their conservation efforts. So, the culture of the Nuer people living in the Gambella region is uniquely different from [that of] other communities,” Aticho told Hyolmo.
Because the birds are considered sacred, most communities don’t hunt them. Hunting is limited to specific medicinal purposes. They may also hunt large-bodied birds during droughts and food shortages.
Despite the community’s relationship with the birds, the latter face habitat degradation from agriculture, settlements and infrastructure development.
Aticho said it’s important that bird conservation in the region consider the culture of Indigenous groups. “In the case of Gambella, some international donors initiate bird conservation without incorporating the local knowledge and culture of the Nuer people, the conservation practice will eventually fail because it doesn’t take the local context into account.”
Read the full interview by Sonam Lama Hyolmo here.
Banner image of a white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus), which is among the Nuer peoples’ gaatkuoth birds (meaning “children of god”). Image by Charles J. Sharp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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