Persistence hunting

Persistence hunting is a type of hunting where the predator uses a combination of running and tracking to pursue the prey to exhaustion.Nowadays it is very rare among humans hunting animals, but it is seen in a few Kalahari bushmen and the Tarahumara or Raramuri people of Northern Mexico.It has been thought to be one of the earliest forms of human hunting.

Persistence hunting requires endurance running - running many miles for extended periods of time. Among primates endurance running is only seen in humans and is thought to have evolved 2 million years ago.

Persistence hunting in human evolution

The persistence hunt may well have been the first form of hunting practiced by hominids. It is likely that this method of hunting evolved before humans invented projectile weapons, such as darts, spears, or slings. Since they could not kill their prey from a distance and were not fast enough to catch the animal, the only reliable way to kill it would have been to run it down over a long distance.

In this regard one has to bear in mind that, as hominids adapted to bipedalism they would have lost some speed, becoming less able to catch prey with short, fast charges. They would, however, have gained endurance and become better adapted to persistence hunting [David R. Carrier, "The Energetic Paradox of Human Running and Hominid Evolution", "Current Anthropology", 25 (4):483-495, 1984. See also comments by Jennifer Frederick and Jeff Kersten [http://www.publicanthropology.org/Archive/Ca1984.htm] ] . The evolution of the distinctively human sweating apparatus and relative hairlessness would have given hunters an additional advantage by keeping their bodies cool in the midday heat.

Procedure

During the persistence hunt an antelope, such as a kudu, is not shot or speared from a distance, but simply run down in the midday heat. Depending on the specific conditions, hunters of the central Kalahari will chase a kudu for about two to five hours over 25 to 35 km in temperatures of about 40 to 42°C. The hunter chases the kudu, which then runs away out of sight. By tracking it down at a fast running pace the hunter catches up with it before it has had enough time to rest in the shade. The animal is repeatedly chased and tracked down until it is too exhausted to continue running. The hunter then kills it at close range with a spear.

Persistence hunting among cultural groups

The persistence hunt is still practised by hunter-gatherers in the central Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, and
David Attenborough's documentary "The Life of Mammals" (program 10, "Food For Thought") showed a bushman hunting a kudu antelope until it collapsed [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/10_october/31/progs6-10_mammalspack.pdf] .Also the Tarahumara natives of northwestern Mexico in the Copper Canyon area may have practiced persistence hunting.

ee also

*Bernd Heinrich's book "Why We Run", Harper Collins, 2002, p.128.
*Cursorial hunting
*Tarahumara
*Scott Carrier's book "Running After Antelope" describes the author's attempt at a persistence hunt in America

References

General

* D.M. Bramble and D.E. Lieberman, "Endurance running and the evolution of Homo", "Nature",) 432: 345-353, 2004 November 18th.
* Ingfei Chen, "Born to Run", "Discover", May 2006.
* Louis Liebenberg, "Persistence Hunting by Modern Hunter-Gatherers", "Current Anthropology", 47:6.

Notes

External links

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* It showed a bushman hunting a kudu antelope until it collapsed.