155 www.folklore.ee/folklore ANIMALS IN THE TRADITIONAL WORLDVIEW OF THE YORÙBÁ

This is a contribution to an on-going debate on animal ethics. It is an episte-mological study into the Yorùbá beliefs and perceptions about animals that have existed and still exist in the areas they inhabit. The research sets out to elucidate the Yorùbá perception of animals with regard to their classifica-tion, habitat, and their role and position in religious, political, social, eco-nomic, and domestic domains of humans. This leads to an appraisal of rela-tionships that exist between the Yorùbá people and animals in their commu-nities. The study explores the Yorùbá folklore in its various dimensions as the paradigm to espouse their ontological perception of animals. The study concludes that the Yorùbá people attach much importance to their animals and that animals occupy an important place and space in human existence and life on the globe