A global analysis of the evolutionary drivers of wild mammals use in traditional medicine
Ingredients derived from wild mammals are widely used in traditional remedies. Large datasets of trait, range, and phylogeny are also available for mammals. Therefore, this is an ideal group to explore the ecological (e.g., range size, body mass) and evolutionary (i.e., shared ancestry) drivers of the use of animal-derived products in traditional medicine. Here, we provide a global analysis of the drivers of the use of wild mammals in traditional medicine, testing how life-history traits explain pattern in present-day use of these animals. We compiled data from the primary literature about folk remedies based on mammals by a literature search using ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Then, we used modern phylogenetic comparative methods to estimate phylogenetic signal in the diseases in which animal parts are used for, and also test if geographic range and body size affected the use. Also, we tested if species more used are also those more threatened by extinction. Our results show that 521 mammal species are used as source for products to treat 371 diseases. We found support for the hypothesis that phylogenetic relatedness determines the use of mammal-derived remedies in traditional medicines. Specifically, we confirm our hypotheses that closely-related species are more versatile and are used to treat similar diseases. Furthermore, we demonstrated that mammals with larger body size are more versatile and are used to treat more diseases. As many as 209 species in our database are listed in some threat category, suggesting that overexploitation for medicinal uses can be an overlooked source of threat and should ideally be considered in mammal species conservation assessments. By showing that phylogenetic relatedness affects species use as remedy in traditional medicine, we urge future studies to evaluate the negative effects of overexploitation of animals for medical purposes, because it can cause nonrandom extinction patterns in the mammalian tree of life.
