Paper long abstract:

The scientific validity of symbolic descriptions is an ongoing research question in the vein of Claude Levi-Strauss, according to whom the same logic could prevail in mythical and scientific thought.

The objective of this paper is to explore the concordance between these two bodies by investigating the interspecific biological relations as they are seen in the Baka ritual in Southern Cameroon, around the figure of the forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis, and as they are known to scientists.

At the heart of the Baka ritual as well as in the Baka ethno-elephantological corpus, where the symbolic representation of the elephant is extremely elaborate, we find three ethno-interspecific registers.

The first evokes a form of commensalism, that is, the convergence of exploitation of the same resource, in this case a wild yam, by elephants and humans. The second refers to the auxiliary function of the elephant's sentinel bird. The third, in relation to the elephant bird, and the elephant tick, is what is considered by ornithologists, on the one hand, and by tick specialists, on the other, as a relationship halfway between parasitism and mutualism.

The question of the scientific validity of this Baka concept of interspecific relationships deserves to be raised. Indeed, the confrontation of the symbolic corpus with elephantological, ornithological and botanical knowledge shows the naturalistic relevance of these symbolic descriptions. It than deserves to be taken seriously by the natural sciences, as it can be considered as a possible source of information useful in conservation policy.