The Hunt

monkey (Pithecia sp.), deer (Mazama sp.), Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), Peccary (Pecari tajacu). Also several species of birds as the Tucan (Pteroglossus pluricinctus), blue and yellow parrot (Ara ararauna), red parrot (Ara macao), etc.

When hunting with their blowgun the Waorani still set out on the trails almost naked, only using the “come” (traditional belt they use to hold their penis) or shorts at the most. This way they avoid the bright colors of the clothes and blend

The Waorani make their blowguns very long allowing them to get as close as possible to their prey. They shoot darts stained with curare, a traditional poison they extract from the bark of a vine which, in Latin, is called Curarea tecunarum. Further, due to the brown color of the blowguns, the prey mistakes the blowgun as a simple plant stem and thus does not run away.

The HUNT

better with the forest.

The traditional hunting arms of the Waorani indigenous people are the spear and the blowgun.

Nowadays many of the Waorani people have come to obtain riffles and shotguns, though it is still possible to find people in some communities who continue to hunt with their traditional blowgun, even though no tourists are there to take pictures. Those that have chosen to hunt in their traditional form have found that shotguns make a lot of noise when fired and the animals flee from danger.

The other traditional hunting weapon of the Waorani, the spear, is not so popular any longer because the advantages of the spear do not outweigh those of the shotgun. In the past the spear was used to hunt large animals such as peccary (Pecari tajacu) or tapir (Tapirus terrestris), animals that had to be chased running. The shotguns, being lighter and handier, make this chase much easier.

The most common and highly valued preys of the Waorani are the whitebreast spidermonkey (Ateles belzebuth), wholly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha), red titi (Callicebus cupreus), Saki

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