- 1919 Route de Mende
34 293 Montpellier 5
- Human-wildlife conflicts, Nomadic Peoples, Anthropology of Europe, Ethology, Ethnobiology, Anthropology of Science, and 28 moreApplied Ecology, Wilderness (Environment), Anthropology of Eurasia, Animal Behaviour, Cryptozoology, Human Dimensions of environmental issues, Human-Animal Relationships, Anthropology of post -slave societies, Shamanism, Environmental Anthropology, Ecological Anthropology, Ethnozoology, Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Animal Species Loss and Decline, Epistemology (Anthropology), Indigenous ecological knowledges and practices, Wildlife Conservation, Carnivore Ecology, Wildlife Biology, Conservation Biology, Animals in Myth (Anthrozoology), Biodiversity, Anthropology of Knowledge, Anthrozoology, Carnivora, Anthropology Of Nature, Agriculture (Biology), and Behavioral Ecologyedit
- I am an ethno-ecologist working on human-animal relationships. More specifically, I am interested in the importance o... moreI am an ethno-ecologist working on human-animal relationships. More specifically, I am interested in the importance of human-animal interactions in the process of knowledge construction. Until now I have mainly been working on human interactions with large carnivores in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), the Balkans (Bulgaria, Macedonia) and Poland.edit
Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-trc-10.1177_19400829211032585 for Understanding Drivers of Unsustainable Natural Resource Use in the Comoro Islands by Mohamed Thani Ibouroi, Said Ali Ousseni Dhurham, Aurélien Besnard and Nicolas Lescureux... more
Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-trc-10.1177_19400829211032585 for Understanding Drivers of Unsustainable Natural Resource Use in the Comoro Islands by Mohamed Thani Ibouroi, Said Ali Ousseni Dhurham, Aurélien Besnard and Nicolas Lescureux in Tropical Conservation Science
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Wolves were exterminated in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, livestock breeders and herders were unprepared when wolves arrived from Italy in 1993, the year after France committed to the European Union (EU) to... more
Wolves were exterminated in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, livestock breeders and herders were unprepared when wolves arrived from Italy in 1993, the year after France committed to the European Union (EU) to protect wolves. Today, ~580 wolves, whose numbers are growing exponentially, are present in over one-third of France. During the last 10 years, livestock deaths from wolves have grown linearly from 3215 in 2009 to 12451 in 2019, despite France implementing extensive damage protection measures since 2004, including reinforced human presence, livestock guard dogs, secured pasture fencing and electrified night pens. The failure to prevent damage is clear. Wolves enter mosaic landscapes where grazing livestock are abundant and easy prey. Wolves are intelligent and opportunistic. As a strictly protected species, it seems they no longer associate livestock with humans and humans with danger. Half of the successful attacks now occur during the day, notwith...
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1.Relationships between humans and Asian elephants have lasted for millenia, based on close interlinks between wild elephants, captive elephants, and the latter’s human masters. Since the beginning of the 19th century, elephants have been... more
1.Relationships between humans and Asian elephants have lasted for millenia, based on close interlinks between wild elephants, captive elephants, and the latter’s human masters. Since the beginning of the 19th century, elephants have been used mainly in agroforestry as draught animals. Interrelations between wild and captive populations persist in few countries, notably through the reproduction of captive females with wild males. 2.The ongoing and rapid political, socio-economic and environmental changes occurring in Laos for the last few decades have strongly affected the conditions of this cohabitation. We conducted an ethnological survey to assess how the socio-ecological system has evolved in Laos and its consequences for interactions between humans, wild, and captive elephants, elephant handling practices and human relationships with the species. 3.We show that in the 1990s this socio-ecological system was based on the principles of common access to natural resources and social...
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Human dimension is an important component of large carnivore management and conservation. Here, we focus on the human-wildlife conflict related to depredation of livestock by Pyrenean brown bears (Ursus arctos), despite the population... more
Human dimension is an important component of large carnivore management and conservation. Here, we focus on the human-wildlife conflict related to depredation of livestock by Pyrenean brown bears (Ursus arctos), despite the population being among the smallest in the world. Two reintroductions were performed in the past to ensure the survival of the population, yet its conservation status remains critical due to small size, heavy inbreeding and disagreements over its management. We investigated the often-neglected spatial variations in attitude towards predator presence to improve our understanding of the human dimensions surrounding this conflict. We used a questionnaire to assess the drivers explaining the attitude of the local human population (n = 577) of the Pyrenees towards bear presence. Our results show that spatial variables (place of birth and county of residence of the respondent) are strong predictors of attitude. The residents of two counties in particular (Haute-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques) displayed a positive attitude, while the residents of the Hautes-Pyrénées county had the most negative attitude. People born outside of the Pyrenees also showed a more positive inclination towards bear presence than people born and raised in France's southwestern mountain range. Both these results may imply a link between the history of local communities with predator presence and their current attitude. Accounting for small-scale spatial heterogeneity in social–ecological studies of human-wildlife conflicts will prove useful to get a more accurate mapping of attitudes and inform subsequent management decisions.
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Large carnivore conservation worldwide is depended both on ecological and human factors. The majority of large predators require vast areas to hunt and roam, but there are few protected areas in the world that are large enough to sustain... more
Large carnivore conservation worldwide is depended both on ecological and human factors. The majority of large predators require vast areas to hunt and roam, but there are few protected areas in the world that are large enough to sustain viable populations of carnivores away from anthropogenic habitats. Hence, carnivore conservation mostly needs to be carried out in the wider landscape matrix, where they often come into conflict with human activities. Their presence in the matrix is highly dependent on the extent of damage they cause to humans and the extent to which humans tolerate these conflicts. Consequently, adequate knowledge on human-large carnivores' relationships is crucial for their conservation. One way to look at "social factors" related to carnivore conservation is through human dimension studies. Human dimensions research provides insights into understanding human– wildlife relationships and can contribute to better management and policy measures in relat...
Wildlife conservation often leads to various conflicts with other human activities, resulting in concerns about the justice of conservation. Although species' protection – notably of large carnivores – can have negative consequences for... more
Wildlife conservation often leads to various conflicts with other human activities, resulting in concerns about the justice of conservation. Although species' protection – notably of large carnivores – can have negative consequences for economic interests and human well-being, environmental justice issues related to species conservation are rarely explored. In Brazil, jaguars (Panthera onca) have become flagships for a series of conservation initiatives. Whereas jaguars' direct impact on cattle farming has been studied, their influence on other rural stakeholders is poorly understood. Here we study local people's views on jaguars and jaguar conservation across the Cerrado savannah and the Amazon rainforest biomes. Using Q-methodology, we identified five distinct narratives regarding jaguar conservation in relation to environmental justice issues. These were shared among fishermen, tourist guides, cattle breeders, crop farmers and jaguar hunters. Interestingly, we did not find any systematic differences in subjective views, across regions, or professions/livelihood forms. However, our results showed a strong desire among the stakeholders for more local empowerment to influence the management of both jaguars and nature where they live. Moreover, we detected a widespread discontent with the lack of consistent implementation and predictable enforcement of environmental laws.
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Human dimension is an important component of large carnivore management and conservation. Here, we focus on the human-wildlife conflict related to depredation of livestock by Pyrenean brown bears (Ursus arctos), despite the population... more
Human dimension is an important component of large carnivore management and conservation. Here, we focus on the human-wildlife conflict related to depredation of livestock by Pyrenean brown bears (Ursus arctos), despite the population being among the smallest in the world. Two reintroductions were performed in the past to ensure the survival of the population, yet its conservation status remains critical due to small size, heavy inbreeding and disagreements over its management. We investigated the often-neglected spatial variations in attitude towards predator presence to improve our understanding of the human dimensions surrounding this conflict. We used a questionnaire to assess the drivers explaining the attitude of the local human population (n = 577) of the Pyrenees towards bear presence. Our results show that spatial variables (place of birth and county of residence of the respondent) are strong predictors of attitude. The residents of two counties in particular (Haute-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques) displayed a positive attitude, while the residents of the Hautes-Pyrénées county had the most negative attitude. People born outside of the Pyrenees also showed a more positive inclination towards bear presence than people born and raised in France's southwestern mountain range. Both these results may imply a link between the history of local communities with predator presence and their current attitude. Accounting for small-scale spatial heterogeneity in social–ecological studies of human-wildlife conflicts will prove useful to get a more accurate mapping of attitudes and inform subsequent management decisions.
Research Interests: Wildlife Ecology And Management, Human-wildlife conflicts, Large Carnivores, Human dimensions of wildlife, Bears, and 3 moreAttitudes, Pyrénées, and Human-Wildlife relationships, with particular reference on human perceptions of, and attitudes towards, large carnivores and their depredations on livestock..
A key controversy in conservation is the framing of the relationship between people and nature. The extent to which the realms of nature and human culture are viewed as separate (dualistic view) or integrated is often discussed in the... more
A key controversy in conservation is the framing of the relationship between people and nature. The extent to which the realms of nature and human culture are viewed as separate (dualistic view) or integrated is often discussed in the social sciences. To explore how this relationship is represented in the practice of conservation in Europe, we considered examples of cultural landscapes, wildlife (red deer, reindeer, horses), and protected area management. We found little support, for a dualistic worldview, where people and nature are regarded as separate in the traditional practice of conservation in Europe. The borders between nature and culture, wild and domestic, public land and private land, and between protected areas and the wider landscape were blurred and dynamic. The institutionalized (in practice and legislation) view is of an interactive mutualistic system in which humans and nature share the whole landscape. However, more dualistic ideals, such as wilderness and rewilding that are challenging established practices are expanding. In the context of modern day Europe, wilderness conservation and rewilding are not valid for the whole landscape, although it is possible to integrate some areas of low-intervention management into a wider matrix. A precondition for success is to recognize and plan for a plurality of values concerning the most valid approaches to conservation and to plan for this plurality at the landscape scale.
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Recent trends in social sciences advocate the recognition of interactive properties in human–animal relationships. Based on an ethnographic study, this paper explores the interactive properties of the relationships between herding dogs... more
Recent trends in social sciences advocate the recognition of interactive properties in human–animal relationships. Based on an ethnographic study, this paper explores the interactive properties of the relationships between herding dogs and their trainer-users, and how the dogs' behaviors participate in the construction of trainer-users' knowledge. Trainer-users' discourses and practices revealed a common theoretical axis, portraying the herding dog as a social predator descended from the wolf and driving the game towards his pack-leader. The dog's hunting skills are used to turn him/her into a working tool, through minimally constrained education and training. Once trained, the dog should become an autonomous but controllable worker, who helps livestock breeders lead their flock quietly. Two training modes were identified and used simultaneously by the trainers: contextual training (teaching the human–dog–livestock relationship to the dog) and conditioned training (teaching the commands to the dog). Trainer-users all recognized the individual personalities of the dogs and were sensitive to the quality of their relationships with them. They expected the dogs to be more competent than humans in understanding livestock behaviors, thus suggesting that the dog is more a work assistant than a work tool. Indeed, the dog helps the livestock breeder to establish an optimal interrelational distance between the species by managing space, time, and affectivity in the human–dog–livestock relationship. This triangular relationship, defined by the trainers as a leader–predator–prey relation, resembles a misunderstanding maintained by the livestock breeders in order to reach the leader position. Finally, the livestock-handling context appears particularly fruitful for revealing the complexity of interspecific relationships, the evolution of work in the livestock breeding context, and for understanding the human's connection to their social environment, including non-human living beings.
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The relationship between humans and wolves is often associated with conflicts strongly linked with livestock breeding activities. However, as conflicts are often more intense than expected considering the magnitude of their economic... more
The relationship between humans and wolves is often associated with conflicts strongly linked with livestock breeding activities. However, as conflicts are often more intense than expected considering the magnitude of their economic impact, some authors have suggested that these conflicts are disconnected from reality and are mainly due to persistence of negative perceptions from previous times. To the contrary, we suggest that local people’s perceptions are often linked to wolf behaviour through direct observations and interactions. We conducted ethnological investigations on human-wolf relationships in countries belonging to former USSR (Kyrgyzstan) and former Yugoslavia (Republic of Macedonia), subjected to rapid social changes impacting both livestock husbandry and hunting practices. Our studies revealed that changes in hunting and husbandry practices have led to modifications in the socio-environmental context and to the nature of wolf-human interactions. These changes have resulted in an increased vulnerability of local people to wolf damage and a concomitant reduced acceptance for wolves. All these changes contribute to changes in the perception of the wolf and to an increase in the perception of conflicts, even in countries where humans and wolves have continuously coexisted. Our study shows the dynamic nature of human-wolf relationships, the necessity to understand the broader socio-economical context in human-wildlife conflicts, and the challenge pastoralists are facing in a changing world.
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From a conservation point of view, Macedonia's brown bear (Ursus arctos) population appears to be a key link in the distribution of one of Europe's largest brown bear populations, the Dinaric-Pindos population. The lack of information... more
From a conservation point of view, Macedonia's brown bear (Ursus arctos) population appears to be a key link in the distribution of one of Europe's largest brown bear populations, the Dinaric-Pindos population. The lack of information concerning the bear population in the Republic of Macedonia and bear acceptance by local people inspired us to explore local knowledge and perceptions concerning bears that could be relevant for their conservation. Accordingly, we adopted a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews to determine how the specific behaviour and ecology of bears can influence, through interactions, local peoples' knowledge and perceptions. Our results show that due to numerous interactions, the informants' knowledge appeared to be detailed and consistent, both internally and with existing scientific literature about bears. Bear specific behaviour allows them to be located, individualised and thus appropriated by villagers, and also to be identified as an alter-ego. For the villagers, the occasional harmfulness of a bear is not the result of a general characteristic of bears in general, but of some individual bear's behaviour. Finally, bears enjoy a relatively good image as long as local people can react against individuals that cause damage. However, direct or indirect poaching of bears is still a main concern for the Macedonian brown bear's conservation.
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The remnant population of Balkan lynx Lynx lynx martinoi is small, isolated and highly threatened. Since 2006 a conservation project has surveyed its status and promoted its recovery in Albania and Macedonia. Eurasian lynx are often... more
The remnant population of Balkan lynx Lynx lynx martinoi is small, isolated and highly threatened. Since 2006 a conservation project has surveyed its status and promoted its recovery in Albania and Macedonia. Eurasian lynx are often associated with conflicts of an economic or social nature, and their conservation requires a focus on the people sharing the landscape with the species. In this study we adopt methods and conceptual frameworks from anthropology to explore the local knowledge and perceptions of lynx among rural hunters and livestock breeders in the western mountains of the Republic of Macedonia in south-east Europe. The main finding was that local people rarely saw or interacted with lynx. As the level of interactions with this species is very low, the lynx doesn’t appear to be a species associated with conflicts in Macedonia. There was also a general lack of both scientific and local knowledge, which has led to somewhat negative attitudes, mainly based on myths and rumours. Poaching of lynx and their prey seem to be the main barriers to lynx conservation.
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The fact that human—large carnivore relationships tend to be full of material and social conflicts raises applied questions concerning the origin of human perceptions linked to these animals and more theoretical questions concerning the... more
The fact that human—large carnivore relationships tend to be full of material and social conflicts raises applied questions concerning the origin of human perceptions linked to these animals and more theoretical questions concerning the link between identification and relational processes. This study, based on ethno-ethological surveys in the Republic of Macedonia (SE Europe), aims to show that the widely contrasting species specific behavioural characteristics of brown bears, wolves and Eurasian lynx influence local perceptions of these species through the nature and frequency of their interactions with humans. It appears that a high frequency of interactions allows the relational processes to dominate, leading people to modify their actions in response to the behaviour and ecology of the species. However, the fact that the virtual absence of interactions with lynx has not prevented the construction of a particular image of the species also highlights the complexity of the relationship between the level of interactions and people’s perception about animals.
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Influence des interactions avec les ours, les loups et les lynx sur les perceptions des chasseurs et des éleveurs de République de Macédoine. La nature conflictuelle des relations entre les hommes et les prédateurs conduit à s’interroger... more
Influence des interactions avec les ours, les loups et les lynx sur les perceptions des chasseurs et des éleveurs de République de Macédoine.
La nature conflictuelle des relations entre les hommes et les prédateurs conduit à s’interroger sur l’origine des perceptions négatives liées à ces animaux ainsi que sur l’articulation entre processus d’identification et processus relationnels. Cette étude, basée sur des enquêtes ethno-éthologiques menées en République de Macédoine, souhaite montrer que les comportements des ours, des loups et des lynx ont un impact sur la fréquence et la nature des interactions avec l’homme et influencent ainsi les perceptions qui leurs sont associées.
La nature conflictuelle des relations entre les hommes et les prédateurs conduit à s’interroger sur l’origine des perceptions négatives liées à ces animaux ainsi que sur l’articulation entre processus d’identification et processus relationnels. Cette étude, basée sur des enquêtes ethno-éthologiques menées en République de Macédoine, souhaite montrer que les comportements des ours, des loups et des lynx ont un impact sur la fréquence et la nature des interactions avec l’homme et influencent ainsi les perceptions qui leurs sont associées.
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The cohabitation between men and wolves arouses passions but also scientific questions. Recent ecological studies show that human activities have an unquestionable influence on wolves’ behavior. In the same way, if one refers to various... more
The cohabitation between men and wolves arouses passions but also scientific questions. Recent ecological studies show that human activities have an unquestionable influence on wolves’ behavior. In the same way, if one refers to various ethnological works, it is undeniable that human populations are sensitive to this neighbor whose presence is marked both materially and symbolically. However, in spite of the apparent reciprocity of the relationship between these two species, they were studied up to now only in a unilateral way by ecology, ethology and ethnology. Now, the analysis of data resulting from my fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan shows a more complex reality to the relationship, which compels us to reconsider the way of treating it. The cohabitation between wolves and men, as experienced by Kyrgyz for centuries, is indeed assimilated to a real inter-relationship made up of reciprocal influences. Kyrgyz and wolves seem thus to be involved in an interactive and dynamic relational system. The latter imposes for its study a new approach, one that is more global and dialectical, concerned with the interspecific character of the relationship. However, such an approach inevitably raises methodological if not epistemological problems this article wishes to highlight.
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The conflictful nature of human-wolf relationships is important for conservation biologists. As conflicts are often more intense than expected considering the economic impact of wolves on human activities, some authors suggested these... more
The conflictful nature of human-wolf relationships is important for conservation biologists. As conflicts are often more intense than expected considering the economic impact of wolves on human activities, some authors suggested these conflicts are due to the persistence of negative perceptions from previous times and disconnected with reality. To the contrary, we suggest that local people’s perceptions are often linked to wolf behaviour through direct observations and interactions. We conducted ethnological investigations on human-wolf relationships in countries belonging to former USSR (Kyrgyzstan) and former Yugoslavia (Republic of Macedonia), which have been subjected to rapid social changes that are impacting livestock husbandry and hunting practices. Our surveys showed that changes in hunting and husbandry practices have led to modifications of wolf-human interactions which has reduced the acceptance for wolves among local people and made them more vulnerable to wolf damage. All those changes contribute to changes in the perception of the wolf and to increase the conflicts, even in countries where humans and wolves have continuously coexisted. Those studies show the dynamic nature of human-wolf relationships and the necessity to understand the evolution of the social context in conflict studies.
Dog domestication is probably the result of the forging of particularly close relationships between two social species, humans and wolves, around 15,000 years ago. However, a few thousand years later, wolves were progressively excluded... more
Dog domestication is probably the result of the forging of particularly close relationships between two social species, humans and wolves, around 15,000 years ago. However, a few thousand years later, wolves were progressively excluded from human settlements because of livestock domestication. Then, dogs and wolves took radically different historical pathways, dogs becoming more and more integrated into human societies whereas wolves were rejected and persecuted in large parts of their range until recently. Indeed, under the combined effects of rural abandonment and nature protection laws, wolves are now coming back to their former territories and their populations co-occur not only with humans but also with large populations of dogs, either owned or free-ranging. This co-occurrence produces numerous hybrids, causing difficulties for conservation scientists and wildlife managers. The development of the wolf-dog hybrid problem highlights underlying categorizations behind scientific discourses and questions the relevance of established categories and borders – both interspecific and domestic/wild ones – to describe the diversity of our relationships with animals.
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Until recently, the diversity of human-wolves relationships and the associated conflicts have mainly been explained through the various socio-cultural contexts. The agency of wolves, notably their ability to adapt their behaviour to human... more
Until recently, the diversity of human-wolves relationships and the associated conflicts have mainly been explained through the various socio-cultural contexts. The agency of wolves, notably their ability to adapt their behaviour to human practices, has been underestimated and so the intrinsic dynamic dimension of the relationships. Indeed, our surveys in several countries (Republic of Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, France) showed that radical changes in husbandry or hunting practices have led to modifications in the socio-environmental context and the nature of human-wolf interactions, resulting in apparent changes in wolves' behaviours. These changes have often resulted in an increased vulnerability of local people to wolf damages, a reduced acceptance for wolves and increasing conflicts, even in countries where humans and wolves have continuously coexisted. Therefore, the diversity of human-wolf relationships is not only the result of various socio-cultural contexts but also emerges in diverse historical trajectories that engage both humans and wolves in specific social and ecological contexts. Considering wolves as active agents in the relationships appears necessary to understand conflicts and adopt appropriate management strategies, not only based on damage prevention but also implying direct pressure on wolves to make coexistence conceivable.
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M ost everyone who has ever ridden a domestic horse or seen any of the wild equid species in their natural habitat has felt some strong emotional response to the encounter. The prehistoric cave paintings of wild horses in southern France,... more
M ost everyone who has ever ridden a domestic horse or seen any of the wild equid species in their natural habitat has felt some strong emotional response to the encounter. The prehistoric cave paintings of wild horses in southern France, the historic horse cultures of central Asia, the role of modern-day horses as companion animals, o r the efforts being used to conserve and reintroduce wild species all testify to the existence of a strong and enduring connection between people and equids that goes far beyond basic utilitarian needs. Much has been written about the complex relationships between humans and domestic horses both in pas t (Meyer 2013) (see chap. 8) and present times (e.g. , Robinson 1999; Keaveney 2008), and reviewing this work is outside the scope of this chapter. Rather, we explore the human relationship with wild equids, especially those aspects relevant for present-day wild equid management. This has proven to be a challenging task, as (1) defining "wild" in the case of equid management is far from trivial and (2) there was an extreme paucity of studies, requiring us to construct the following review from diverse and highly fragmented sources from m any disciplines. In the resulting chapter, we present both a review of w hat is known about the topic as well as a wider discussion about the conceptual issues related to defining the borders of the "wild" in the context of conserving large mobile animals in the Anthropocene.
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Confronté aux difficultés des différentes disciplines à dégager les propriétés interactives des relations hommes-loups, j'ai interrogé les Kirghiz sur leurs relations, dans la synchronie et la diachronie. J'ai adopté une démarche... more
Confronté aux difficultés des différentes disciplines à dégager les propriétés interactives des relations hommes-loups, j'ai interrogé les Kirghiz sur leurs relations, dans la synchronie et la diachronie. J'ai adopté une démarche ethno-éthologique intégrant le comportement de l'animal et la manière dont il est perçu afin de déterminer ses influences sur les savoirs et les pratiques humaines.
Intelligent et doué d'intentionnalité, le loup se voit attribuer par les Kirghiz une intériorité similaire à la leur et apparaît comme un alter ego. Pratiques d'élevage et de chasse viennent confirmer cette conception et participent à son émergence. Il apparaît ainsi que les Kirghiz se trouvent engagés dans une interrelation faite d'interactions réciproques. L'impact de la chute de l'URSS sur les pratiques humaines puis sur les comportements des loups montre le caractère dynamique des interrelations et conduit à considérer la relation des Kirghiz avec les loups comme une co-évolution.
Considering the difficulties of disciplinary approaches to grasp the interactive properties of human-wolf relationships, I questionned the Kyrgyz on their relationships in synchrony and diachrony. I adopted an ethno-ethological approach which integrate the animal's behaviour and the way it is perceived in order to determine their influences on knowledge and practices.
Intelligent, endowed with intentionality and reflectivity, the wolf is credited by Kyrgyz with the same interiority as human one and thus appears as an alter ego. Kyrgyz's practices bears out their conception of the world and also takes part in its emergence. Thus, it appears that the Kyrgyz are engaged with wolves in an inter-relation founded on reciprocal interactions. The fall of USSR and its consequences on human practices and thus on wolves behaviour allows us to bring to light the dynamic property of Kyrgyz-wolves relationship and drives us to consider it as a co-evolution.
Intelligent et doué d'intentionnalité, le loup se voit attribuer par les Kirghiz une intériorité similaire à la leur et apparaît comme un alter ego. Pratiques d'élevage et de chasse viennent confirmer cette conception et participent à son émergence. Il apparaît ainsi que les Kirghiz se trouvent engagés dans une interrelation faite d'interactions réciproques. L'impact de la chute de l'URSS sur les pratiques humaines puis sur les comportements des loups montre le caractère dynamique des interrelations et conduit à considérer la relation des Kirghiz avec les loups comme une co-évolution.
Considering the difficulties of disciplinary approaches to grasp the interactive properties of human-wolf relationships, I questionned the Kyrgyz on their relationships in synchrony and diachrony. I adopted an ethno-ethological approach which integrate the animal's behaviour and the way it is perceived in order to determine their influences on knowledge and practices.
Intelligent, endowed with intentionality and reflectivity, the wolf is credited by Kyrgyz with the same interiority as human one and thus appears as an alter ego. Kyrgyz's practices bears out their conception of the world and also takes part in its emergence. Thus, it appears that the Kyrgyz are engaged with wolves in an inter-relation founded on reciprocal interactions. The fall of USSR and its consequences on human practices and thus on wolves behaviour allows us to bring to light the dynamic property of Kyrgyz-wolves relationship and drives us to consider it as a co-evolution.
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In order to understand the origin of conflicts between humans and wolves in the French Alps, we made a survey in a village of the Roya Valley, part of the Mercantour National Park's Buffer zone. Our results show that contrary to some... more
In order to understand the origin of conflicts between humans and wolves in the French Alps, we made a survey in a village of the Roya Valley, part of the Mercantour National Park's Buffer zone. Our results show that contrary to some arguments, the conflict was not due to a reminiscence of negative wolf image from the ancient bestiary. The conflict rather appears as a modern conflict link to villagers' concerns about the future of their village. This concern takes place in a context of rural abandonment, landscape change and contested protected area. Moreover, this conflict is under some external influences increasing its intensity.