Gendered movement ecology and landscape use in Hadza hunter-gatherers.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Understanding how gendered economic roles structure space use is critical to evolutionary models of foraging behaviour, social organization and cognition. Here, we examine hunter-gatherer spatial behaviour on a very large scale, using GPS devices worn by Hadza foragers to record 2,078 person-days of movement. Theory in movement ecology suggests that the density and mobility of targeted foods should predict spatial behaviour and that strong gender differences should arise in a hunter-gatherer context. As predicted, we find that men walked further per day, explored more land, followed more sinuous paths and were more likely to be alone. These data are consistent with the ecology of male- and female-targeted foods and suggest that male landscape use is more navigationally challenging in this hunter-gatherer context. Comparisons of Hadza space use with space use data available for non-human primates suggest that the sexual division of labour likely co-evolved with increased sex differences in spatial behaviour and landscape use.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Wood, BM; Harris, JA; Raichlen, DA; Pontzer, H; Sayre, K; Sancilio, A; Berbesque, C; Crittenden, AN; Mabulla, A; McElreath, R; Cashdan, E; Jones, JH
Published Date
- April 2021
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 5 / 4
Start / End Page
- 436 - 446
PubMed ID
- 33398143
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC8060163
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 2397-3374
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 2397-3374
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1038/s41562-020-01002-7
Language
- eng