First evidences of Amazonian wildlife feeding on petroleum-contaminated soils: A new exposure route to petrogenic compounds?

Abstract

Videos recorded with infrared camera traps placed in petroleum contaminated areas of the Peruvian Amazon have shown that four wildlife species, the most important for indigenous peoples' diet (lowland tapir, paca, red-brocket deer and collared peccary), consume oil-contaminated soils and water. Further research is needed to clarify whether Amazonian wildlife's geophagy can be a route of exposure to petrogenic contamination for populations living in the vicinity of oil extraction areas and relying on subsistence hunting.

Keywords: Amazon; Geophagy; Indigenous health; Oil extraction; Subsistence hunting.