On Prey Mobility, Prey Rank, and Foraging Goals

Abstract

AbstractIn their recent paper “In Pursuit of Mobile Prey,” Bird, Bliege-Bird, and Codding (2009) identify a negative relationship between body size and post-encounter returns among Martu prey in western Australia, attributing the phenomena to the greater mobility of large animals and associated risk of hunting failure. While this phenomenon has implications for archaeological applications of foraging models that assume body size and on-encounter returns are positively correlated, the Martu data may be less exceptional than they appear. Here we outline the reasons for our skepticism, point out areas in which we are in agreement, and build upon their findings by exploring the trade-offs between foraging to maximize efficiency and immediate returns and foraging for purposes other than immediate provisioning.