The Tsimané, also known as the Tsimane' or Chimane, are an indigenous people of lowland Bolivia, living in the municipalities of San Borja, San Ignacio de Moxos, Rurrenabaque, and Santa Ana de Yacuma of Beni Department. The Tsimané are the main residents of the T’simane Council Territory (Spanish: Territorio del Consejo T’simane) and the Pilón Lajas Reserve. They are primarily a Subsistence agriculture culture, although hunting and fishing contribute significantly to many of the settlements' food supply. Those Tsimané living in the Reserve are affiliated with the multiethnic Consejo Regional Tsimane Moseten (CRTM), which holds the title to the Reserve as a Native Community Land or TCO.
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Name
The Tsimané are also known as the Achumano, Chamano, Chimane, Chimanis, Chimanisa, Chimnisin, Chumano, Nawazi-Moñtji, and Ramano people.
Language
The Tsimané speak the Tsimané language, which is a Mosetenan language. The other Mosetenan languages are Mosetén of Santa Ana and Mosetén of Covendo (Sakel 2004). It can be described as a small language family, though sometimes it also appears as a language isolate. The reason for this is that some of the variants are mutually intelligible (Sakel 2004), see also
Subsistence
Tsimané and Mosetén people fish, hunt, and farm for a living. They cultivate bananas and manioc through swidden agriculture.
Health
Both the Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study and The Tsimane Health and Life History Project have studied the Tsimane since 2002. Among other things, it appears that they do not develop heart disease as they age in the same ways as people in the developed world.
The average Tsimané woman has nine children in her lifetime. A study of 983 Tsimané women found that 70% were infected with the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides, which is believed to have increased their fertility rate by suppressing their immune system, leading to two additional children over the course of a lifetime.
Slower epigenetic aging rate
Blood tissue from the Tsimané exhibits a slower intrinsic epigenetic aging rate than that of other populations according to a biomarker of tissue age known as epigenetic clock. This finding might explain the "Tsimane inflammation paradox", wherein high levels of inflammation and infection, and low HDL cholesterol levels, are not associated with accelerated cardiovascular aging.