Persistence hunting

Persistence hunting is a hunting technique in which

hunters use a combination of running, walking,[1] and
tracking to pursue prey to the point of exhaustion. While
humans can sweat to reduce body heat, their quadrupedal
prey would need to slow from a gallop in order to pant.[2]

ditions, hunters of the central Kalahari will chase a kudu

for about two to ve hours over 25 to 35 km (16 to 22
mi) in temperatures of about 40 to 42 C (104 to 108
F). 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.

Today, persistence hunting is very rare and seen only

in a few groups such as Kalahari bushmen and the
Tarahumara or Raramuri people of Northern Mexico.
The technique requires endurance running running long
distances for extended periods of time - and among
primates, endurance running is only seen in humans. Persistence hunting is thought to have been one of the earliest
forms of human hunting, having evolved 2 million years
ago.

3 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.[4] It
is thought that the Tarahumara natives of northwestern
Mexico in the Copper Canyon area may have also practiced persistence hunting.[5]

Persistence hunting in human

evolution

Further information: Endurance running hypothesis

The persistence hunt may well have been the rst 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, one reliable way to kill it
would have been to run it down over a long distance.

Persistence hunting has even been used against the fastest

land animal, the cheetah. In November 2013, four
Somali-Kenyan herdsmen from northeast Kenya successfully used persistence hunting in the heat of the day to
capture cheetahs who had been killing their goats.[6]

There is evidence that Western peoples, in the absence of

hunting tools, have reverted to persistence hunting, such
In this regard, one has to bear in mind that, as hominids
as the case of the Lykov family in Siberia.[7]
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.[3] Although 4 History
many mammals sweat, few have evolved to use sweating
for eective thermoregulation, humans and horses being The techniques of persistence hunting have developed on
notable exceptions. This coupled with relative hairless- various levels in dierent parts of the world. From the
ness would have given human hunters an additional ad- middle ages, we know of the technique as parforce huntvantage by keeping their bodies cool in the midday heat. ing taken from the French parforce meaning 'with force'.
Humans also are uniquely able to carry water to drink In parforce hunting, the game is run up and exhausted
by using a combination of mounted hunters and packs of
while hunting.
dogs. When it is down, a selected hunter approaches and
kills it with a hunting dagger and no rearms are used
whatsoever. It was often seen as honorary to be allowed
2 Procedure
the nal deathblow. This hunting method was adopted
widely across Europe by the royalty and nobility and large
During the persistence hunt an antelope, such as a kudu, deer parks are still around, as living witnesses of this speis not shot or speared from a distance, but simply run cic hunting sports former popularity. Parforce hunting
down in the midday heat. Depending on the specic con- is illegal nowadays.
1

See also
Bernd Heinrich's book Why We Run, Harper
Collins, 2002, p. 128.
Cursorial hunting
Tarahumara
Tracking (hunting)
Scott Carrier's book Running After Antelope describes the authors attempt at a persistence hunt in
Middle America

References

6.1

General

D.M. Bramble and D.E. Lieberman, "Endurance

running and the evolution of Homo" (PDF), Nature,
432: 345-353, November 18, 2004.
Ingfei Chen, Born to Run, Discover, May 2006.
Louis Liebenberg, (2006) Persistence Hunting by
Modern Hunter-Gatherers, Current Anthropology,
47:6.

6.2

Notes

[1] Frey, Rodney Homo Erectus, Persistent Hunting, and

Evolution, 2002
[2] Carrier, David, R.The Energetic Paradox of Human
Running and Hominid Evolution. Current Anthropology,
Vol.25, 4, AugustOctober 1984
[3] Louis Liebenberg, The Relevance of Persistence Hunting to Human Evolution., Journal of Human Evolution.
December, 2008; 55(6): 1156-9. See also comments by
Jennifer Frederick and Je Kersten
[4] Food For Thought, BBCi, The Life of Mammals, Programme 10
[5] McDougall, Christopher, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe,
Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never
Seen, New York, 2009.
[6] , BBC News
[7] Mike Dash (28 January 2013). For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut O From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II. Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 16 March 2014. Lacking guns and
even bows, they could hunt only by digging traps or pursuing prey across the mountains until the animals collapsed
from exhaustion.

EXTERNAL LINKS

7 External links
Attenborough, David (2002). Program 10: Food
For Thought (pdf). Documentary The Life of Mammals. BBC. This documentary shows a bushman
hunting a kudu antelope until it collapsed.
The Barefoot Professor.
Nature Publishing
Group. Daniel Lieberman talks about persistence
hunting and barefoot running
Russian Family Cut O for 40 Years from Human
Contact. Smithsonian. Mentions that the family
lacking guns and even bows, they could hunt only
by digging traps or pursuing prey across the mountains until the animals collapsed from exhaustion.

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