Subsistence Strategies and Resource Use among the Santals of Srirampur in Assam Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 116 Research Communications significance (Hillaluddin et al. 2005). However, ecologists identify hunting as one of the primary threats to wildlife in Northeast India (Mishra et al. 2006). Consumption of bushmeat is common in Northeast India (Aiyadurai 2011) and unsustainable hunting practices contribute to decline in wildlife populations and extinction (Aiyadurai 2011; Hillaluddin et al. 2005; Kaul 2004; Mishra et al. 1998). This study discusses two villages in western Assam, India, dominated by members of the Santal community. We investigate the practice of bushmeat hunting, the importance of bushmeat and non-timber forest product (NTFPs) collection, and awareness and perception about wildlife conservation. Methods Study Location Srirampur is a rural town in Hathidhura Tehsil in the district of Kokrajhar, Assam, India. National Highway Introduction Santals are one of the largest Indigenous tribes in India, residing in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Bihar and Odisha (Mandal et al. 2020). They also inhabit regions of Bangladesh and Nepal (Sarker 2014). They are recognized as a disadvantaged tribe with respect to social, economic and political status (Sarker 2014). Besides undertaking agriculture as a major livelihood (Sarker 2014), they are hunters and gatherers organizing themselves near forests, jungles, and beel (wetland) areas, hunting bushmeat for local consumption (Kharel et al. 2019). Bushmeat hunting is a crucial resource for many poor rural people around the world (Brown and Williams 2003). Bushmeat provides an accessible source of protein; while hunting and consumption are meaningful elements in their larger culture (Wilkie and Carpenter 1999). In several Northeast Indian rural communities, hunting has a religious and cultural Subsistence Strategies and Resource Use among the Santals of Srirampur in Assam Saurabh Mardi1 and Hilloljyoti Singha1* 1Department of Zoology, Bodoland University, Kokrajhar, India. *singha.hilloljyoti@gmail.com Abstract The Santals, one of India's largest Indigenous tribal communities, are primarily found in regions of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. They share a common language and cultural traditions. The study discusses how the Santals use natural resources including bushmeat, often gathered from the forest or densely vegetated areas in Srirampur, the west border of Assam in North-east India. A structured survey and interviews were carried out among 111 residents. The interviewed community depended significantly on the forest, collecting natural resources such as food, medicinal plants, and non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Hunting was prevalent in the community. Hunters were significantly younger (21.54±8.21 years old) than non-hunters (47.96±10.19 years old) and most preferred catapults to traps. Mass hunting occurred occasionally and was mostly done by children for leisure. Birds were the most targeted animals, while frogs and rodents were also hunted. The primary driver for hunting was consumption and bushmeat was not sold in markets. Other hunting includes species of mollusks and fish. The illiterate members of the tribe were not aware of NGO and state-led conservation efforts although they supported them. This study discusses Santal culture, Santal attitudes toward natural resources, and stresses the need for governmental intervention and awareness programs. Received May 25, 2024 OPEN ACCESS Accepted July 4, 2025 DOI 10.14237/ebl.16.1.2025.1891 Published September 19, 2025 Keywords Santal, Natural resources, Bushmeat, Conservation awareness, Srirampur Copyright © 2025 by the author(s); licensee Society of Ethnobiology. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 117 Research Communications (NH 27) passes north of the town which connects West Bengal in the West. Two kilometers south from the town, there are four villages called Srirampur No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 on both sides of the state highway. The Damra river flows on the west side of the villages, which then joins the river Sankosh, a tributary to River Brahmaputra. The temperatures in summer average 27.64° C to 31.67° C and the average winter temperature is 19.34° to 23.66° C. The average rainfall is about 2,400 mm to 3,000 mm per annum. The town is inhabited by Assamese and Bengali communities, as well as the Santal tribe. Few residents live close to the market. Most of the population lives outside the town, in the four villages. The town’s infrastructure is poor, with only a few schools (serving children up to Secondary level only), one market, one bank, and no hospital. The public market is in the center of the town, and all residents visit it. However, natural forest resources are only sold by Santals. We selected Srirampur No. 1 and No. 2 villages for our study because they were inhabited only by the Santals. Residents speak Santali, the Indigenous language, as well as Assamese, Bengali and Hindi. The first author (SM) is a native Santal of Srirampur and speaks the language. Most of the Santals are Christians; however, they still uphold their traditional rituals. Illiteracy is also common among the Santal tribes of the study area. All households, both literate and illiterate, reared livestock. All households, apart from the literate minority, did not own LPG or electrical stoves. The region has sparse tree cover and scattered bamboo patches, with the majority of the landscape consisting of agricultural paddy fields (Figure 1). However, every household has home gardens comprising cultivated species (Areca catechu, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Averrhoa carambola, Carica papaya, Litchi chinensis, Psidium guajava, Syzygium cumini, and others), and naturally growing plant species that create a Figure 1 Map showing the study area – Sriampur, Kokrajhar, Assam. Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 118 Research Communications mosaic habitat for amphibia, reptiles, small mammals, and birds. Monkeys (e.g., Rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta) are sometimes seen making their way through villages using the bamboo groves as a temporary abode. Large wildlife has not been observed by the locals in their living memory. Data Collection We used a structured survey for data collection (see supplementary file) after the pilot study. The interview schedule consisted of 14 questions designed to extract information for quantitative analysis focusing largely on the issue of bushmeat hunting and perceptions on conservation. The interviews also helped to collect other general information regarding the tribe. The first author conducted interviews in Santali. Both the study villages were ethnically and culturally inhabited by Santals, and so we considered these two villages as one unit of study area. Out of the 220 households in the study area, we conducted a survey among 75 Santal households from April–June 2020. We selected the households using a random sampling method (Kothari 2004) and obtained verbal consent before conducting the interviews. We interviewed 111 individuals from the population, prioritizing the head or representative of the family (usually males). Sometimes, other family members also supplemented the replies. When no males were present, we interviewed females to inquire about the males’ hunting habits. We interviewed other family members because we recognized that it was the children who hunted and not elder males. The hunters were categorized into three age groups: 10–20, 20–30, and over 30. The youngest group was also interviewed, as the pilot survey indicated that they were the ones who had the habit of hunting. Each interview lasted 10–15 minutes. The respondents were asked about their use of natural resources and the products they extracted from their forest for subsistence activities. We categorized forest products into four categories: NTFPs, medicine, firewood and food. NTFPs in this study were defined as wood mostly used for construction of houses and tools. The type of NTPFs and intensity of extraction was not investigated. Hunters were asked regarding their hunting tools, strategies, motivators, and harvesting success rate. The harvesting success rate was assessed by defining five categories: 10–30% (1–2 animals in five trips), 30 –60% (5 animals in five trips), 60–90% (5–10 animals in five trips), 90–100% (more than 10 animals in five hunting trips) and 0% (none of the above). The drivers and motivations for hunting were assessed by four categories: Personal consumption, festivals, commercial purposes and sport. Occurrence of group hunting i.e., organized hunting groups, in the region was also assessed. During this hunting, people go in groups of more than five. For assessing the frequency of mass hunting four categories were considered: everyday, weekly (once per week), festivals (special occasions), and occasionally (rarely). The market was also surveyed to verify the sale of forest products, wild meat and other animal products. Conservation awareness, their perceptions and support for wildlife conservation were also assessed. Analyses All data were stored in Excel spreadsheet as binary data (i.e., Yes = 1, No = 0). Chi-square analysis was used to determine significant differences among the variables with 0.01 significance level. Yates’s correction was used where degrees of freedom was 1 (i.e., between two variables) with 0.01 significance level. Chi square contingency tables were used to test for association between hunters and non-hunters, and between sexes. Z test was used to analyze the average age of hunters and non-hunters at 0.05 significance level. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were estimated respectively. All statistical analyses were done using RStudio (version 4.3.0) (R Core Team; 2023). Graphical representations were created using Microsoft Office Professional Plus Excel 2019 (Version 2304). Results All respondents had been to the forest in their locality for collection purposes. All respondents described that they had collected food, NTFPs, medicine, and firewood at roughly equal rates regardless of age and gender (c2 = 0.05, df = 3, P > 0.01; Figure 2). No female respondents (20) hunted in the community. Among the male respondents (91), we found more non-hunters (59%) than hunters (41%). Hunters tended to be younger (21.54 ± 8.21 years old) than the non-hunters (47.96 ± 10.19 years old) (Z = 13.87, n1 = 54, n2 =37, p <0.05), although one hunter was 59 years old. Among the hunters, the youngest age group (62% of 10–20 years old) hunted more than the other age groups (c2 = 16.43, df = 2, P < 0.01). All interviewed students (n = 10; age: 15.9 ± 2.68) hunted. The catapult was the weapon of choice of all the hunters, because it was easy to carry. All the Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 119 Research Communications hunters preferred going to hunt rather than setting traps. Mass hunting occurred occasionally according to all the respondents. Hunters primarily targeted birds (100%), with rodents a (41%) being their secondary target (c2 = 24.54, df = 2, P < 0.01). The harvesting success rate was significant in the “10–30% category” (73%), in which only 1–2 animals were harvested in five hunting trips (c2 = 7.81, df = 1, P < 0.01). All hunters stated that the primary driver for hunting was consumption. Among the respondents, 73% were significantly aware of the need for conservation (c2=23.43, df = 1, P < 0.01). However, the awareness among students was not significant with 20% not being aware about NGO and state- driven conservation (c2=2.5, df = 1, P > 0.01). There was no significant difference between females who were and were not aware of conservation programs (c2=2.45, df = 1, P > 0.01). However, all respondents expressed their support for conservation programs when they discussed them with the researchers. Discussion The results of the study indicate that the Santals in Srirampur depend on natural resources for their livelihood. Their devotion to their traditions and rituals have not eroded with development infrastructure over the last twenty years. All the respondents had been to the forests and home gardens for collection of natural resources. Santal women and children venture out to catch fish and crabs from nearby streams, ponds, and rivers (similar to Barkat et al. 2021). They extract wild edible plants (Diplazium esculentum, Dioscorea bulbifera etc.) grown around their house or picked from nearby jungle patches. Common seasonal crop plants such as Abelmoschus esculentus, Manihot esculenta, Solanum lycopersicum, Solanum tuberosum, and Solanum melongena are grown by almost every household. NTFPs products are used for various reasons such as fuelwood for household fuel use and to sell for cash; bamboo and non-timbers for house construction and also for cash; and bamboo for tools and crafts. Mishra et al. (2006) found Adi tribes in Arunachal Pradesh and Santals in Bangladesh (Barkat et al. 2021) to be heavily dependent on the forest for fuelwood, timber and bamboo for house construction, medicinal plants for cash, and leaf litter for manure. Cooking was done in mud stoves and firewood and NTFPs were used as fuel. Cow dung mixed with hay was wrapped around sticks and dried and used as an alternate fuel for cooking (Figure 3). Firewood is in high demand and sold regularly. NTFPs such as bamboo species are Figure 2 Purpose of going to the forest by the respondents in the study area (Respondents were allowed to provide multiple answers). Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 120 Research Communications also grown on Santal land and then sold (Figure 4). Bamboo is an important cash plant for the Santal communities who depend on it for their livelihood. Natural resources such as wild plants, NTFPs and firewood also contribute supplementary income and act as a tool for poverty alleviation (Arnold and Perez 2001; Brown and Williams 2003). Santals in Alipurduar, West Bengal used 73 medicinal plants (Mandal et al. 2020). However, there was no documentation of medicinal plants in this study. The traditional medicines are not sold in the open market. The residents reported that they generally depend on traditional medicines including prayers and rituals. However, people occasionally use pharmaceutical medicines as well. The research was constrained because it relied on hunters to recall their harvesting rate. This limitation means that the data might not accurately reflect the actual number of animals harvested, leading to possible overestimations or underestimations of hunting activity. Consequently, the conclusions drawn from these data should be approached with caution. The hunters of the study area did not follow a fixed hunting schedule but hunted when convenient, and even out of boredom (similar to Barkat et al. 2021). Santal hunters pursue rats whenever they come across Figure 3 Cooking with firewood in mud stove (left), cow dung mixed with hay wrapped on sticks used as alternate fuel for cooking (right). Photographs by Saurabh Mardi. Mardi and Singha. 2025. Ethnobiology Letters 16(1):116–127 121 Research Communications them while working on cultivated land. Generally, hunting is gender differentiated, being done mostly by men or adolescent boys (similar to Lowassa et al. 2012). All young boys are introduced to hunting by their peers from an early age (