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Is Meat Flavor a Factor in Hunters’ Prey Choice Decisions?

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Abstract

By focusing on the caloric composition of hunted prey species, optimal foraging research has shown that hunters usually make economically rational prey choice decisions. However, research by meat scientists suggests that the gustatory appeal of wildlife meats may vary dramatically. In this study, behavioral research indicates that Mayangna and Miskito hunters in Nicaragua inconsistently pursue multiple prey types in the optimal diet set. We use cognitive methods, including unconstrained pile sorts and cultural consensus analysis, to investigate the hypothesis that these partial preferences are influenced by considerations of meat flavor. Native informants exhibit high agreement on the relative appeal of different meats. Given the absence of other noteworthy differences between spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), the unappealing flavor of howler monkeys seems to be a factor in the partial preference for this species.

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Notes

  1. A funeral interrupted data collection, necessitating the change.

  2. We use Alvard’s (1993) method for calculating the caloric benefit of prey species.

  3. Pulliam (1980) notes that, when individual prey items vary in their profitability, partial preferences might occur because a prey type is sometimes in and sometimes out of the optimal diet set.

  4. Arboreal and terrestrial animals are likewise distinguished from riverine animals, which explains in large part why informants did not include turtles in the cultural domain.

  5. Note that several of the correlations involving the flavor rankings are negative because low numbers in the rankings indicate preferred species.

  6. We use a nonparametric test because the biomass of harvested tapir meat is more than twice the value for any other wildlife species, and this moderately ranked species therefore has a disproportionate effect on the correlation coefficient. When we exclude this outlier from the dataset, the Pearson’s correlation is likewise significant (Pearson’s r = −0.613; p = 0.012; n = 16).

  7. For the Kagwahiv, by contrast, pacas are considered the most dangerous meat for sick individuals (Kracke 1981:99).

  8. In other societies, informants suggest that the similarity of monkeys to humans makes primates less disgusting than other prey (Cormier and Urbani 2008).

  9. Based on Shepard’s (2002) general description of spider monkey pursuits by Matsigenka bow hunters, it seems unlikely that spider monkeys are dramatically more profitable than howler monkeys.

  10. This explanation is consistent with the argument of Fessler and Navarrete (2003:17–18) that the prestige-biased cultural transmission of food habits might explain the origin of food taboos.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Fulbright student grant, the National Science Foundation (Dissertation Improvement Award #0413037), the Hill Foundation, a William Sanders dissertation grant, a Noldus publication grant, the University Research Council at the University of Cincinnati, and the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center. Thanks to Sarah Barth for preparing Fig. 1. Chris Calkins provided helpful perspectives on the design of the project and an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on a draft of this paper.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0380, USA

    Jeremy M. Koster

  2. Hodgen Consulting, Lafayette, IN, 47905, USA

    Jennie J. Hodgen

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Maria D. Venegas

  4. Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA

    Toni J. Copeland

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Correspondence to Jeremy M. Koster.

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Winner of the Evolutionary Anthropology Section’s Best Student Paper Award at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association

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Koster, J.M., Hodgen, J.J., Venegas, M.D. et al. Is Meat Flavor a Factor in Hunters’ Prey Choice Decisions?. Hum Nat 21, 219–242 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-010-9093-1

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