Study co-author Marine Drouilly told Mongabay by email that many conservation efforts fail because they don\u2019t consider local beliefs and traditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile threats such as habitat loss and poaching for bushmeat are well-documented, cultural practices \u2014 such as the use of skins, bones, and other parts in rituals, traditional medicine, or social status symbols \u2014 are often overlooked,\u201d said Drouilly, the carnivore monitoring coordinator for West and Central Africa at wildcat conservation NGO Panthera.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_Panthera.jpg\")
A young female leopard rests on a fallen tree trunk in South Africa\u2019s Sabi Sand Nature Reserve. Image courtesy of Panthera.
\n![\"Genet,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_JacobCallePanthera.jpg\")
Genet, serval and black-backed jackal skins, at the Faraday market, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017. Image courtesy of Jacob Calle\/Panthera.<\/p>\n
There are more than 2,000 ethnolinguistic groups in Africa, each with its own distinctive customs. \u201cMany of these cultures have traditions of using wildlife for purposes such as attire, zootherapy (medicine) and bushmeat, but the pervasive usage of carnivore parts, especially in traditional ceremonies, has not received the level of consideration it seems to warrant,\u201d Drouilly and her fellow researchers write.<\/p>\n
Among the better-known examples of cultural demand for wildcat parts is the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa, also known as Shembe, for whose 9 million members leopard skins are an essential element of ceremonial regalia. Leopard skins<\/a> are also a symbol of royalty among the amaZulu, Barotse and Ngoni kingdoms in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n Panthera commissioned the study to systematically identify and characterize the current use of wildcat products for cultural reasons across the continent.<\/p>\n The researchers reviewed nearly 600 accounts of customary use of 33 African carnivore species in academic journals and elsewhere published between 1907 and 2020. They also analyzed evidence from 555 YouTube videos. The documentation covered 48 of the continent\u2019s 54 countries, ranging from Algeria to South Africa, and Djibouti to Senegal.<\/p>\n They found widespread traditional use of skins, claws, teeth, bones and tails of wildcats for purposes like attire, traditional medicine and bushmeat. Leopards (Panthera pardus) featured most frequently, followed by lions (Panthera leo), servals (Leptailurus serval) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). The most frequently recorded uses were of a variety of spotted carnivore skins worn by traditional leaders, healers and participants in cultural festivals. Non-attire uses such as for traditional medicine, rituals and bushmeat, as well as musk used in fragrances, were recorded in three-quarters of the countries surveyed.<\/p>\n The end users ranged from members of relatively new religious groups like the Shembe church, to political leaders, to Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n The researchers say their intention with this study is \u201cnot to unnecessarily vilify cultural and customary practices,\u201d but to promote an informed appreciation of their potential impacts on wildlife species.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also aim to foster awareness and, where appropriate, encourage the integration of the cultural significance and implications of these practices into conservation frameworks and thereby avoid irreparable population depletion \u2014 without endorsing their utilisation as Trojan horses to conceal illicit, population-threatening activities,\u201d the researchers write.<\/p>\n The study is also relevant to societies across Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe and the U.S., which all have traditions involving carnivore parts for rituals, medicine and status symbols, Drouilly said. She added conservation programs in other parts of the world could also draw on the report\u2019s findings, for instance addressing the use in Asia of body parts from tigers (Panthera tigris), or trafficking of jaguars (Panthera onca) in Latin America.<\/p>\n Tarik Bodasing, a technical adviser in wildlife and forest crime in Liberia for the U.K.\u2019s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), who wasn\u2019t involved with the study, said the research draws attention to the negative impacts of consumptive use of wildlife.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no positive impacts of such use,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, the world and society has shown that when it comes to cultural practices, it\u2019s almost always the wild species that suffers from the type of use, in particular trade in skins.\u201d<\/p>\n Bodasing said this kind of research provides policymakers with information needed to guide conservation decisions for the conservation of the targeted species.<\/p>\n Ecologist and evolutionary biologist Philip Muruthi, vice president for species conservation at the Kenya-based African Wildlife Foundation, took a more positive view, saying the study points to how religious and cultural communities might be engaged in protection of carnivores.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows that local communities value the species as exemplified in their use of the skins, etc. for certain symbolic purposes. But such utilization should not jeopardize the species now and in the long term,\u201d said Muruthi, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study. \u201cLet scientists work with the authorities and communities to manage the species in their natural ecosystems. Communities too should embrace science to learn more about the species and how their cultural practices can affect the species they so much cherish.\u201d<\/p>\n This is aligned with what the researchers themselves hoped to achieve, Drouilly said. \u201cThis study, by recognizing the scale of cultural demand, can help conservationists better understand the full range of pressures on these species,\u201d she said. \u201cBy identifying the cultural contexts in which carnivores are used, conservationists can also design interventions that are more culturally sensitive and locally accepted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of the research was ultimately to help inform future engagement with culturo-religious groups and the co-development of conservation strategies aimed at reducing the pressure on key wild cat populations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Banner image: Members of the Nazareth Baptist (Shembe) Church in South Africa wearing both wildlife skins and synthetic Heritage Furs provided in partnership with Panthera. Image courtesy of Gareth Whittington-Jones\/Panthera.<\/p>\n Fake it till you save it? Synthetic animal parts pose a conservation conundrum<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Forgotten\u2019 leopards being driven to silent extinction by poaching and trade<\/a><\/p>\n Sustainable fashion: Biomaterial revolution replacing fur and skins<\/a><\/p>\n Trophies, body parts & live animals dominate global lion trade, data show<\/a><\/p>\n Citation: ![\"Lion](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6_PhillipHenschelPanthera.jpg\")
Lion skins and other seized contraband in Senegal in 2011. Image courtesy of Phillip Henschel\/Panthera.
\n![\"Various](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4_HorionAglissiPanthera.jpg\")
Various items made with animal skins at a vendor\u2019s stall in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. Image courtesy of Horion & Aglissi\/Panthera.<\/p>\n
Williams, V. L., Drouilly, M., Coals, P. G. R., & Whittington-Jones, G. M. (2025). Pan-African review of cultural uses of carnivores. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0315903. doi:10.1371\/journal.pone.0315903<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n