Yanomami

The mercury ascends the food chain up to the Yanomami in the form of a neurotoxin that especially affects child development.

Weakened by illness and unable to produce and hunt enough food, the Yanomami are reduced to begging and most recently trading sex for food.

Since most outsiders have invaded the Amazon via the large rivers, the Yanomami have been able to live in isolation until very recently.

Today about 95% of the Yanomami live deep within the Amazon forest as compared to the 5% who live along the major rivers.

The Yanomami are not being integrated into Western society; instead begging, prostitution and drunkenness are being introduced into theirs.

However as horticulturists the Yanomami do not get sufficient protein from their crops.

The fact that just about all of the Yanomami live deep within the forest has been quite significant for their survival.

Villages may go to war for a number of reasons and warfare makes up a large part of Yanomami life.

Trade also is another important aspect of Yanomami life and helps to reduce the chances of warfare between villages.

The yanomami people tried to save their forest , because it was their home . but the people who wanted gold were stronger .

Though many Yanomami are peace, many are fierce warriors.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, gold miners invaded the lands of the Yanomami in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela.

The Yanomami had very little contact with the outside world until the 1980's.

The Yanomami people's traditions are shaped by the belief that the natural and spiritual world are a unified force;