Indigenous Hunters Research Articles

Hunting for Sustainability: Indigenous Stewardship in the Cofán Territory of Zábalo

ABSTRACTIndigenous lands are increasingly recognized for their critical role in biodiversity conservation. However, concerns persist about the sustainability of hunting practices within these territories. This study investigates the long‐term impact of Indigenous hunting practices on wildlife populations in the Cofán territory of Zábalo, Ecuador. We employed line transect surveys to estimate wildlife densities over three periods (2001–2003, 2006–2009, and 2018), focusing on 16 species that are integral to local livelihoods and subject to community management. Our results indicate generally stable or increasing populations for most species, particularly in nonhunted areas, where spatial restrictions are enforced. The Cofán's ability to sustainably manage relations between humans and wildlife is largely attributable to their adaptive management system, which includes species‐specific regulations and spatial zoning, and is realized through community decision‐making, knowledge sharing, and an ethos of care. These findings demonstrate that Indigenous stewardship can effectively sustain biodiversity in complex biocultural systems. The study underscores the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge with scientific approaches to achieve long‐term conservation goals.

Unveiling the Other: Animals, Oppression, and Visual Culture through Nanook of the North

This article critically examines early 20th-century exploration cinema, focusing onthe portrayal of nonhuman animals and indigenous peoples, using Nanook of theNorth (1922) as a representative example. The study highlights how these films,emerging during a period of intense Western exploration, established enduringvisual conventions that depicted nonhuman animals and indigenous humans ascultural Others. By moving beyond the aesthetic achievements of these films,such as Robert Flaherty's innovative use of long shots, the article brings attentionto the ethical concerns related to speciesism and anthropocentrism that haveoften been overlooked. It explores how the exploitation of nonhuman animalsboth on-screen and behind the scenes reflects broader speciesist powerdynamics, while also challenging the dichotomy between culture and nature asseen in indigenous hunting and gathering societies. The article argues for a reexaminationof these films through a multicultural and intersectional lens,bridging the gap between cinema studies and critical animal and media studies,and ultimately seeks to raise public awareness about the protection of animalrights by emphasizing the sentience and moral consideration due to nonhumananimals.

Togutil tribe’s ecological hunting calendar on Halmahera Island, Indonesia

Hunting has traditionally been associated with practices that reduce wildlife populations. This assumption does not explain the many examples of hunting strategies used in the long term by various indigenous groups worldwide. Therefore, the aim of this study was to document the local knowledge of wildlife management and the maintenance of stable wildlife populations by indigenous people in their local ecosystems. Understanding the hunting practices of indigenous people is essential for designing policies and practices that protect vulnerable wildlife populations. The Togutil tribe is an indigenous hunter–gatherer tribe that leads a nomadic lifestyle along the riverside areas bordering the forest on Halmahera Island, Indonesia. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews spanning four months, with seven key, ten main, and two supporting informants. The results suggested that the Togutil tribe applies a unique ecological hunting calendar and adheres to distinct ethics by using a sustainable 6-2-4 cycle system that can contribute to wildlife conservation. Trappers had three hunting periods: Obutana, Ohinoto, and Oiyata. Hunting activities during the Obutana period were conducted for six months during the rainy season, i.e., from October to April. Peak hunting activities occurred during the Obutana hunting period, when hunters trap wildlife during the fruiting and flowering seasons. Ohinoto is a hunting period that lasts two months, from May to June, marking the onset of the dry season. The Oiyata period extends from July to October (i.e., from the dry season to the beginning of the rainy season). This timing is based on prevalent encounters with wildlife in the forest, specifically during the fruiting and flowering seasons. This study supports future Togutil tribe livelihoods through calendar-based community projects to minimize the loss of vulnerable key species. Consequently, an effective strategy for conserving biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods can be implemented by empowering the Togutil tribe based on their ecological hunting calendar. Our results provide a fundamental understanding of calendar-based hunting practices for future wildlife management and conservation.

Genetic and evolutionary divergence of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in Iliamna Lake, Alaska.

Freshwater populations of typically marine species present unique opportunities to investigate biodiversity, evolutionary divergence, and the adaptive potential and niche width of species. A few pinniped species have populations that reside solely in freshwater. The harbour seals inhabiting Iliamna Lake, Alaska constitute one such population. Their remoteness, however, has long hindered scientific inquiry. We used DNA from seal scat and tissue samples provided by Indigenous hunters to screen for mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite variation within Iliamna Lake and eight regions across the Pacific Ocean. The Iliamna seals (i) were substantially and significantly discrete from all other populations ( [Formula: see text]F st-mtDNA = 0.544, [Formula: see text]Φ st - mtDNA = 0.541, [Formula: see text]F st-microsatellites = 0.308), (ii) formed a discrete genetic cluster separate from all marine populations (modal ∆k = 2, PC1 = 14.8%), had (iii) less genetic diversity (Hd, π, H exp), and (iv) higher inbreeding (F) than marine populations. These findings are both striking and unexpected revealing that Iliamna seals have likely been on a separate evolutionary trajectory for some time and may represent a unique evolutionary legacy for the species. Attention must now be given to the selective processes driving evolutionary divergence from harbour seals in marine habitats and to ensuring the future of the Iliamna seal.

Wild animal attacks and other occupational risks perceived by Indigenous hunters and fishers in the Yangambi landscape

ABSTRACT Hunting and fishing support diverse food systems in tropical forest areas, but carry serious occupational risks. Health and safety at work is important to human wellbeing and constitutes an element of Indigenous rights. This issue has received attention in the regulated sector, but needs additional focus in subsistence and informal economies. We draw on semi-structured interviews with Turumbo hunters and fishers in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve region (DRC) to assess perceptions of occupational risk, especially attacks from wild animals. Fishers were concerned about drowning and cuts, while hunters cited bad weather and injuries from faulty equipment. There was gender-specific perception of risk from wild animals that reflected different roles: women noted snake bites and wasps, while men feared larger animals. Retaliatory behaviors among respondents included killing various species. The risks associated with fishing and hunting in tropical forests should be addressed in policies that consider the wellbeing of the poor.

Elucidating the sustainability of 700 y of Inuvialuit beluga whale hunting in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada

Beluga whales play a critical role in the subsistence economies and cultural heritage of Indigenous communities across the Arctic, yet the effects of Indigenous hunting on beluga whales remain unknown. Here, we integrate paleogenomics, genetic simulations, and stable δ13C and δ15N isotope analysis to investigate 700 y of beluga subsistence hunting in the Mackenzie Delta area of northwestern Canada. Genetic identification of the zooarchaeological remains, which is based on radiocarbon dating, span three time periods (1290 to 1440 CE; 1450 to 1650 CE; 1800 to 1870 CE), indicates shifts across time in the sex ratio of the harvested belugas. The equal number of females and males harvested in 1450 to 1650 CE versus more males harvested in the two other time periods may reflect changes in hunting practices or temporal shifts in beluga availability. We find temporal shifts and sex-based differences in δ13C of the harvested belugas across time, suggesting historical adaptability in the foraging ecology of the whales. We uncovered distinct mitochondrial diversity unique to the Mackenzie Delta belugas, but found no changes in nuclear genomic diversity nor any substructuring across time. Our findings indicate the genomic stability and continuity of the Mackenzie Delta beluga population across the 700 y surveyed, indicating the impact of Inuvialuit subsistence harvests on the genetic diversity of contemporary beluga individuals has been negligible.

Flexible local ecological knowledge surveillance indicators reveal long-term change in the Yangambi wildmeat system

ABSTRACT Conservation and management in Indigenous hunting systems requires an understanding of social-ecological change. We present the Flexible Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators (FLEKSI) framework, which uses standardized questionnaires to derive time series of semi-quantitative LEK state indicators that can support ecosystem-based management. We applied FLEKSI in the Weko hunting territory of the Yangambi landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim was to capture Indigenous and local knowledge of how the wildmeat system has changed during the living memory of participating hunters. Most respondents believed that larger target species have become less abundant and more wary over the last 30 years, while the local wildmeat market has grown. Perceived declines in animal populations contrasted with the view that the broader forest ecosystem remains relatively unchanged. The FLEKSI descriptors and indicator questions can be readily tailored for a given social-ecological system, with potential for general application in data-limited hunting and fishing systems.

A large-scale high-resolution numerical model for sea-ice fragmentation dynamics

Abstract. Forecasts of sea-ice motion and fragmentation are of vital importance for all human interactions with sea ice, ranging from those involving indigenous hunters to shipping in polar regions. Sea-ice models are also important for simulating long-term changes in a warming climate. Here, we apply the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM), originally developed for glacier calving, to sea-ice breakup and dynamics. The code is highly optimized to utilize high-end supercomputers to achieve an extreme time and space resolution. Simulated fracture patterns and ice motion are compared with satellite images of the Kvarken region of the Baltic Sea from March 2018. A second application of HiDEM involves ice ridge formation in the Gulf of Riga. With a few tens of graphics processing units (GPUs), the code is capable of reproducing observed ice patterns that in nature may take a few days to form; this is done over an area of ∼100km×100km, with an 8 m resolution, in computations lasting ∼10 h. The simulations largely reproduce observed fracture patterns, ice motion, fast-ice regions, floe size distributions, and ridge patterns. The similarities and differences between observed and computed ice dynamics and their relation to initial conditions, boundary conditions, and applied driving forces are discussed in detail. The results reported here indicate that the HiDEM has the potential to be developed into a detailed high-resolution model for sea-ice dynamics at short timescales, which, when combined with large-scale and long-term continuum models, may form an efficient framework for forecasts of sea-ice dynamics.

The establishment of a collaborative surveillance program with indigenous hunters to characterize primate health in Southern Guyana.

The consumption of primates is integral to the traditional subsistence strategies of many Indigenous communities throughout Amazonia. Understanding the overall health of primates harvested for food in the region is critical to Indigenous food security and thus, these communities are highly invested in long-term primate population health. Here, we describe the establishment of a surveillance comanagement program among the Waiwai, an Indigenous community in the Konashen Amerindian Protected Area (KAPA). To assess primate health in the KAPA, hunters performed field necropsies on primates harvested for food and tissues collected from these individuals were analyzed using histopathology. From 2015 to 2019, hunters conducted 127 necropsies across seven species of primates. Of this sample, 82 primates (between 2015 and 2017) were submitted for histopathological screening. Our histopathology data revealed that KAPA primates had little evidence of underlying disease. Of the tissue abnormalities observed, the majority were either due to diet (e.g., hepatocellular pigment), degenerative changes resulting from aging (e.g., interstitial nephritis, myocyte lipofusion), or nonspecific responses to antigenic stimulation (renal and splenic lymphoid hyperplasia). In our sample, 7.32% of individuals had abnormalities that were consistent with a viral etiology, including myocarditis and hepatitis. Internal parasites were observed in 53.66% of individuals and is consistent with what would be expected from a free-ranging primate population. This study represents the importance of baseline data for long-term monitoring of primate populations hunted for food. More broadly, this research begins to close a critical gap in zoonotic disease risk related to primate harvesting in Amazonia, while also demonstrating the benefits of partnering with Indigenous hunters and leveraging hunting practices in disease surveillance and primate population health assessment.

Hunting can increase physical activity of Indigenous peoples in Canada: pixem re yecwme'nstut.

This study examined whether Indigenous peoples could achieve the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (CPAG) for adults while engaging in the cultural practice of hunting. It was hypothesized that Indigenous hunters would achieve or surpass the physical activity (PA) thresholds set forth by the CPAG on days spent hunting. Step count and heart rate were recorded from six male participants during mule deer hunts and days spent on-reserve. Step count was not statistically different between days spent hunting (28 803±10 657 steps) and on-reserve (15 086±7536 steps) (p=0.10). Time spent in light (257±45 min; p=0.04), moderate (118±71 min; p=0.03), and vigorous (45±42 min; p=0.04) activities while hunting was greater than on-reserve (light, 180±86; moderate, 71±73; vigorous, 7±10 min). The duration of moderate-to-vigorous PA (119±95 min) for an average day hunting nearly meets the weekly CPAG recommendation of 150 min per week and is 1.8× greater than on-reserve (67±80 min). Data suggest that hunting is probably a viable mode of PA for Indigenous adults to achieve health benefits. A strength of this study is the 10 h of daily recording which includes vehicular transportation to remote hunting areas. The duration of very light/sedentary PA did not differ between hunting (233±211 min) and on-reserve (327±164 min; p=0.10), and highlights the importance of modernized vehicles in traditional Indigenous activities. A larger sample size would facilitate greater exploration of transportation, as well as success of the hunt on PA. These data suggest that health researchers and clinicians should consider traditional activities such as hunting as a means for Indigenous adults to increase participation in sufficiently vigorous PA to incur health benefits.

Jakutijos medžiotojų bei elnių augintojų ir plėšrūnų keršto santykiai taigoje

This article considers the notion of revenge as an agency of wolves, bears and the master-spirits in the animistic worldview of indigenous Eveny and Sakha hunters and the reindeer herders of the Eveno-Bytantaiskii and Tomponskii ulusy (districts) of North Yakutia. Predators are perceived by hunters and herders as conscious non-human beings that can enter into relations with humans on a reciprocal basis. The possibility that predators may carry out revenge on people can be perceived as showing that there are similarities between humans and non-human predators. This article shows how the notions of reciprocity, similarity and relational symmetry between people and predators are reflected in the narratives and hunting rituals of indigenous hunters and herders. As comparative examples, the blood feud customs that earlier existed among the Tungus, Sakha people and Chukchee clans are also considered here. Although these customs no longer exist in the contemporary societies of the indigenous people of Yakutia, the notions underlying them very much reflect the human-predator relations on the taiga today.

Estimating mammal density from track counts collected by Indigenous Amazonian hunters

Monitoring programs must produce reliable estimates of animal population density to effectively guide management decisions and conservation action. Popular methods used to estimate density rely on visual encounters which are difficult to obtain for many large-bodied mammals in tropical forests. This study uses the Formozov-Malyshev-Pereleshin (FMP) method to produce density estimates for four terrestrial mammals based on track counts collected by Indigenous hunters in the Amazon. The focal species include collared peccary (Peccari tajacu), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), and jaguar (Panthera onca). For each species, track detections were greater than visual detections and were found on more transects with a fewer number of surveys. Density estimates were produced for each focal species in hunted and nonhunted sites. These results were compared against the median of 84 density estimates located in the literature that differentiated between hunted and nonhunted sites in the Amazon. Results demonstrate that the FMP method is a reasonable and cost-efficient method. This method can directly engage Indigenous and other local peoples in research, as opposed to replacing their skills with technologies or professional biologists. Overall, this method complements traditional transect surveys and can improve our understanding and management of wildlife across the tropics.

Содержание тяжелых металлов в органах и тканях зайца-беляка (Lepus timidus L., 1758) на севере Красноярского края

Relevant data on trace elements and toxic metals in game meat make it possible to monitor chemical pollution, as well as to detect risks to human and animal health.
 The authors used atomic absorption spectrometry to study iron, copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium in the skeletal muscles, liver, and kidneys of mountain hares (Lepus timidus L.) (n = 107). The animals were caught during two seasons on reference sites and technogenic territories in the northern Krasnoyarsk Region. 
 The samples obtained from the hares that lived on the reference sites had a much lower content of toxic metals. The tissues that belonged to the hares from the polluted habitats contained more lead and cadmium while the samples from the reference sites demonstrated traces of such biogenic elements as copper, zinc, and iron. The differences may be associated with the antagonism of biogenic elements and toxic metals in the body. The correlations between various metals probably meant that they came from one and the same pollution source.
 The levels of cadmium and lead in the samples from the technogenic areas were not hazardous to animal health. However, their meat and liver were unfit to eat. Therefore, hunting in the areas of technogenic pollution can pose a toxic hazard to indigenous hunters and their families.

위기 담론과 고고 자료의 관계성 연구

Crisis has both material attribute and favorite attribute, and it is not easy to define universally because relative attributes can also be revealed. In addition, when defining a crisis in the past, perception of the current crisis, that is, periodical values can be inherent. Crisis can exist through the narrative and discourse as social structuralists argue, but it needs to consider additional relational problems of the crisis that material phenomena can create in interaction with us. Crisis in archaeology is also discussed as the process of the appearance and disappearance in archeological data. For example, the culture of the terminal period of Neolithic Age is indigenous hunter- gatherers, and the culture type of the early Bronze Age can be recognized as farmers, which can be depicted as a crisis and response situation for each group. Such interpretive tendency can be seen as an effort to find a real crisis. In contrast, the crisis may be viewed as a non-substantive crisis constructed by ideology. From a post-processual archaeological position, evidence considered as a criterion for objective judgment in process of defining a crisis can be a device to conceal or rationalize any contradictions in the past or present society. From this perspective, a crisis is an ideological phenomenon that can be constructed by a specific value without substance. In post-dualistic and anti-anthropocentric thinking, various relationships involving the concept of crisis should be considered. It is also necessary to review issues such as how the current concept of crisis plays a role in looking at past materials and how past materials elicit the concept of crisis. Material culture does not mean something in human society, but creates a world with humans in itself, so it needs to understand how languages such as crises we use become together in the relationship between humans and non-humans surrounding them.

Between Legal Indigeneity and Indigenous Sovereignty in Taiwan: Insights From Critical Race Theory

Taiwan, home to over 580,000 Indigenous people in 16 state‐recognized groups, is one of three Asian countries to recognize the existence of Indigenous peoples in its jurisdiction. Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples remember their pre‐colonial lives as autonomous nations living according to their own laws and political institutions, asserting that they have never ceded territory or sovereignty to any state. As Taiwan democratized, the state dealt with resurgent Indigenous demands for political autonomy through legal indigeneity, including inclusion in the Constitution since 1997 and subsequent legislation. Yet, in an examination of two court rulings, we find that liberal indigeneity protects individuals, while consistently undermining Indigenous sovereignty. In 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld restrictive laws against hunting, seeking to balance wildlife conservation and cultural rights for Indigenous hunters, but ignoring Indigenous demands to create autonomous hunting regimes. In 2022, the Constitutional Court struck down part of the Indigenous Status Act, which stipulated that any child with one Indigenous parent and one Han Taiwanese parent must use an Indigenous name to obtain Indigenous status and benefit from anti‐discrimination measures. Both rulings deepen state control over Indigenous lives while denying Indigenous peoples the sovereign power to regulate these issues according to their own laws. Critical race theory (CRT) is useful in understanding how legislation designed with good intentions to promote anti‐discrimination can undermine Indigenous sovereignty. Simultaneously, studies of Indigenous resurgence highlight an often‐neglected dimension of CRT—the importance of affirming the nation in the face of systemic racism.

Javelin use among Ethiopia’s last indigenous hunters: Variability and further constraints on tip cross-sectional geometry

Ethnographically known weapon systems are crucial for the functional interpretation of pertinent archaeological materials. The tip cross-sectional geometries of North American ethnographic projectiles are particularly widely used as standards against which the probable functions of archaeological stone points are assessed. While their known weapon-delivery mechanisms make these North American samples ideal references for archaeological investigations, their applicability to Afro-Eurasian assemblages is contestable. Using metric and contextual data from contemporary hunting javelins in southwestern Ethiopia, we expand on recent efforts to recalibrate such reference datasets. We find that overall javelin size and tip geometry are governed by factors ranging from the hunter’s age and physical competence to prey type and the intended hunting (e.g., startling, diverting, wounding, killing), and even symbolic/ceremonial, tasks. We argue that such dynamics may explain the great variation in the tip cross-sectional geometries of stone points in the archaeological record. Comparisons of our tip cross-sectional values with relevant published data provide further metric constraints and highlight the need for cautious interpretations of prehistoric weapon-delivery mechanisms where the role of symbolism and of children in the making of the archaeological record should also be considered.

Climate, caribou and human needs linked by analysis of Indigenous and scientific knowledge

Migratory tundra caribou are ecologically and culturally critical in the circumpolar North. However, they are declining almost everywhere in North America, probably due to natural variation exacerbated by climate change and human activities. Yet, the interconnectedness between climate, caribou and human well-being has received little attention. To address this gap, we bridged Indigenous and scientific knowledge in a single model, using as example the Porcupine caribou herd social-ecological system. Our analysis, involving 688 (fall season) and 616 (spring season) interviews conducted over 9 years with 405 (fall season) and 390 (spring season) Indigenous hunters from 9 communities, demonstrates that environmental conditions, large-scale temporal changes associated with caribou demography and cultural practices affect hunters’ capacity to meet their needs in caribou. Our quantitative approach bolsters our understanding of the complex relationships between ecosystems and human welfare in environments exposed to rapid climate change, and shows the benefits of long-term participatory research methods implemented by Indigenous and scientific partners. How climate, caribou and human well-being are linked is not well known. Using interviews conducted over 9 years with Indigenous hunters from the Western Arctic of America, this study analyses the mechanisms linking climate, caribou and human capacity to satisfy cultural and subsistence needs in a human–caribou system.

Literary Bioethics: Animality, Disability, and the Human by Maren Tova Linett

<i>Literary Bioethics: Animality, Disability, and the Human</i> by Maren Tova Linett

Orb-web spider Argiope (Araneidae) as indigenous arrow poison of G/ui and G//ana San hunters in the Kalahari.

Hunting has been crucial in early human evolution. Some San (Bushmen) of southern Africa still practice their indigenous hunting. The use of poisons is one remarkable aspect of their bow-and-arrow hunting but the sources, taxonomic identifications of species used, and recipes, are not well documented. This study reports on fieldwork to investigate recent indigenous hunting practices of G/ui and G//ana San communities in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Botswana. Here we discuss their use of spider poison. The hunters use the contents of the opisthosoma ('abdomen') of a spider as sole ingredient of the arrow poison and discard the prosoma that contains the venom-glands. Using taxonomic keys, we identified the spider as the garden orb-web spider Argiope australis (Walckenaer 1805) (Araneidae). The hunters' choice of this species is remarkable given the scientific perception that A. australis is of little medical importance. The species choice raises questions about how the spider fluids could kill game, particularly when the prosoma, which contains the venom glands, is not used. Possibilities include trauma, as a source of pathogens, or abdomen-containing toxins. Based on characteristics of Argiope Audouin 1826, we hypothesize that the choice of this species for arrow poisons might have evolved from the recognition of aposematic signalling or spiritual symbolism. Indigenous knowledge (IK) is an important source for advances in biotechnology but is in decline worldwide. The study contributes to the documentation of the San people, and their ancient IK, which is threatened by marginalization, political pressures, and climate change.

Foragers during a period of social upheaval at Little Muck Shelter, southern Africa

ABSTRACT By the turn of the second millennium AD, farmer societies in southern Africa’s middle Limpopo Valley were undergoing significant economic, political and social transformations that ultimately led to the development of state-level society at Mapungubwe. This included the appearance of social hierarchies, élite groups, trade wealth, craft specialisation and a royal leadership system. Whereas this farmer sequence has been relatively well-studied, forager histories, and their involvement in associated socio-economic systems, are scarcely acknowledged, despite their presence before, as well as during, the farmer-occupation period. Foragers are instead seen as passive or even inactive in local economies and thought to begin ‘disappearing’ after AD 1000. In opposition to these views are recent results from excavations carried out at Little Muck Shelter showing that a forager presence continued into the second millennium AD and that those living at the site were engaged in trade with farmers during the process of state formation. We show this by presenting the distribution of cultural material throughout the site’s occupation and a sample of stone tools and trade items dating from before 2000 BP to AD 1300. Specifically, diagnostic stone artefacts persist into the contact period and until Mapungubwe’s appearance that are morphologically consistent with those from before the BC/AD transition. The occurrence of traded glass beads, ceramics and ostrich eggshell beads also increases and peaks in the second millennium AD, showing continued engagement with the local market economy. Evidence from the shelter demonstrates the contributions that indigenous hunting and gathering communities made during the rise of the Mapungubwe state, when trade wealth came to mark social élite groups, a period that can be characterised as one of social upheaval.