Hunting activity and aging among the gidra papuans: A biobehavioral analysis

Abstract

From the individual-based records of hunting practice for 1,633 hr in total and from the hunters' visual acuity and grip strength observed among the Gidra Papuans in lowland Papua New Guinea, this paper aims to analyze the relationship between the hunting activity and aging. The sensori-motor functions determine the range of age in which the individuals act as active or productive hunters: determined to be from the late teen-age years to about 45 years among the present subjects. In this age range, hunting efficiency increases with age. In terms of weight of animals killed per hunting time, the efficiency of the elder married (aged about 35 to 45 years) was almost four times higher than that of the unmarried (16-17 to late 20s). This aging effect is judged to depend on behavioral abilities that increase in accordance with experience and cumulative knowledge. Simultaneously, the comparison of individual hunters' records in 1971-72 and in 1981 reveals that hunting efficiency is associated with the individualities of the hunters.

Domestication Alone Does Not Lead to Inequality

“…While several studies emphasize the difficulty of hunting (Gurven, Kaplan, and Gutierrez 2006;Ohtsuka 1989;Walker et al 2002), horticulture may also require substantial knowledge and skill to learn proper timing for burning, plot rotation, planting techniques, pest control, and soil management (Conklin 1957). Although the bulk of the calories in horticultural groups comes from carbohydrate staples, such as yams, plantains, and rice, much time is spent engaging in other activities that provide important nutrients as well as prestige, such as hunting and spear fishing (Hames 1989).…”

Cross-cultural Comparison of Learning in Human Hunting

“…A number of authors comment that men in their thirties and forties are at their peak in terms of hunting skill (Gubser 1965: 114;Lee 1979: 242). Several studies have shown that men in this age-group have the highest hunting return rates or encounter rates (Ohtsuka 1989;Walker et al 2002). As Gubser (1965: 114) comments, these men may have more children and acquire more responsibility for the community as a whole.…”

The Paleoanthropology and Archaeology of Big-Game Hunting

“…This is indicated by the fact that hunting return rates peak later in life than most other food acquisition activities. Hunting return rate curves peak in the early 30s for the Hiwi , 40 for the Machiguenga and Piro ), early or mid-40s to mid-50s for the Etolo (Dwyer, 1983), 35-45 for the Gidra (Ohtsuka, 1989), 45-50 for the Hadza (Marlowe, 2000) and 37-42 for the Ache.... If, as Kristen Hawkes (2000:65) so aptly put it, "in the long run, big-game hunting is inferior to available alternative strategies for provisioning families," one has to wonder why hunters invest so much of their life, starting already as children, honing these particular skills?…”