THE ODD STORY OF THE RABBIT IN A KARITIANA VILLAGE (RONDÔNIA)

Abstract

This article recovers somewhat the curious story of rabbits in an indigenous village in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. In the 1970s, a small animal breeding project tried to introduce rabbits among the Karitiana, a Tupi-Arikém people in northern Rondônia. The project completely failed shortly afterward – as did all attempts to introduce animal husbandry there – but it left certain traces that are interesting to investigate, especially since rabbits are rare animals in indigenous villages in Brazil, populated by many other introduced domestic species. More recent episodes involving these lagomorph mammals suggest the incorporation, by the Karitiana, of rabbits – and other new exotic farm animals – in a different way from that proposed about fifty years ago by a project aimed at food security.