What we can learn from the Nuer people and their sacred birds

For the pastoralist Nuer people who migrate with the seasons between western Ethiopia’s Gambella region and Africa’s largest wetland, the Sudd, in South Sudan, birds are gaatkuoth or “sacred children of God.” The community has identified at least 71 bird species that are culturally important to them and useful in traditional medicine, as well as to find fish or bushmeat, researcher Abebayehu Aticho said in an interview with Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo published in July. “The connection between these birds and people is not just spiritual,” said Aticho, who published a study about the human-bird interaction in western Ethiopia. “The Nuer people depend on them to forecast weather and follow birds to find fish stocks and species in the wetlands.” He added the Nuer observe migratory birds in