Edible fruit knowledge distribution among the Orang Rimba

The Orang Rimba indigenous people of Bukit Dua Belas National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia are increasingly involved in shifting agriculture but still maintain their traditional practice of hunting and gathering. Both men and women are involved in collecting edible fruit in the forest. Children and youth are also assist their parents in gathering wild foods. The involvement of the youth and children also means as a process to convey the orang rimba knowledge and tradition to the younger generation. This paper observes the distribution of knowledge of edible fruit among different sex and age groups in the Orang Rimba community. In general, all Orang Rimba have an extensive knowledge of the edible wild fruit. Adult men and women have similar levels of knowledge, while youth have significantly lower level of knowledge and children have the least level of knowledge of wild fruits.