Abstract
Subsistence hunting among the Waimiri Atroari Indians in central Amazonia, Brazil, was studied from September 1993 to October 1994 to assess the current levels of resource exploitation. Hunting effort, harvesting yields and species composition of the hunt were recorded daily in five villages varying in number of people, location and age of the settlement. The Waimiri Atroari harvested a total of 3004 individuals of 41 species in one year. Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), collared peccary (T. tajacu) and spider monkey (Ateles paniscus) represented 87% of the total yearly game weight. Sex ratios of spider monkeys killed were heavily biased towards females indicating a stronger hunting pressure on those individuals. Harvesting yields was proportional to hunting efforts indicating no evident game depletion in the study period. However, capture per unit of effort was significantly different among villages. Differences in total game mass harvested may be explained by local resource depletion associated with age and size of the settlement. However, this relationship is confounded by the capacity of some villages to exploit distant hunting sites. Data obtained in one village showed that harvest rates were higher in hunting sites located far from settlement indicating game depletion in hunting sites surrounding the village.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvard M (1994) Conservation by native people: prey choice in a depleted habitat. Human Nature 5: 127-154
Alvard M (1995) Intraspecific prey choice by Amazonian Hunters. Current Anthropology 36: 789-818
Alvard M, Robinson J, Redford K and Kaplan H (1997) The sustainability of subsistence hunting in the Neotropics. Conservation Biology 4: 977-982
Arita HT, Robinson JG and Redford KH (1990) Rarity in Neotropical forest mammals and its ecological correlates. Conservation Biology 4: 181-191
Balée W (1985) Ka'apor ritual hunting. Human Ecology 13: 485-510
Beckerman S (1980) Fishing and hunting by the Bari of Colombia. In: Hames R and Kesingers KM (eds) Working Papers on South American Indians, pp 2: 67-111. Bennington, Vermont
Belbin L (1992) PATN: pattern analysis package. Division of Wildlife and Ecology. CSIRO, Australia
Bodmer RE (1994a) The urgency finding new directions for primates conservation in Amazonia. Neotropical Primates 2: 1-3
Bodmer RE (1994) Managing wildlife with local communities in Peruvian Amazon: the case of the Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo. In: Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community Based Conservation, pp 113-134. Island Press, Washington, DC
Bodmer R (1995) Managing Amazonian wildlife: biological correlates of game choice by detribalized hunters. Ecological Applications 5: 872-877
Emmons LH and Feer F (1990) Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide, p 281. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Fragoso JMV (1998) Integrating Scientific and Indigenous Wildlife Management Approaches in Indigenous Areas: Status Evaluation and Management of Hunted Wildlife Population in the Rio das Mortes Xavante Reserve, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Report to World Wildlife Fund-Brazil
Hames RB (1980) Game depletion and hunting zone rotation among the Ye'kwana and Yanomamo Indians of amazonian Venezuela. In: Hames R and Kesingers KM (eds) Working Papers on South American Indians, pp 2: 24-62. Bennington, Vermont
Hames RB and Vickers WT (1982) Optimal diet breadth theory as a model to explain variability in amazonian hunting. American Ethnologist 9: 358-378
Leeuwenberg F (1997) Manejo da fauna cinegética na Reserva Indígena Xavante de Pimentel Barbosa. In: MCT/CNPq (ed) Manejo e conservação de vida silvestre no Brasil, pp 233-238. Sociedade Civil Mamirauá
Milliken W, Miller RP, Pollard SR and Wandelli EV (1992) Ethnobotany of the Waimiri Atroari Indians, p 146. Kew Botanical Garden, Kew
Minchin PR (1987) An evaluation of the relative robustness of techniques for ecological ordination. Vegetatio 69: 89-107
Milton K (1981) Estimate of reproductive parameters for free ranging Ateles goeffroyi. Primates 22: 574-579
Moskovits D (1998) Population and Ecology of the Tortoises Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata on the Ilha de Maracá. In: Milliken W and Ratter J (eds) Maracá: the Biodiversity & Environment of an Amazonian Rainforest, pp 263-284. John Wiley & Sons, UK
Novaro AJ, Bodmer R and Redford KH (1997) Are source and sink systems? Paper presented at the III Congreso de Manejo de Fauna Silvestre de la Amazonia. December 3-7. Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia
Peres CA (1990) Effects of hunting on western amazonian primate community. Biological Conservation 54: 47-59
Queiroz HL (1995) Preguiças e guaribas: os mamíferos folívoros do Mamirauá. Ed. by MCT/CNPq. Sociedade Civil Mamirauá, 161 pp 596
Redford KH and Robinson JG (1987) The game choice: patterns of Indian and colonist hunting in the neotropics. American Anthropologist 89: 650-665
Robinson JG and Redford KH (1986) Body size, diet and population density of neotropical forest mammals. American Naturalist 128: 665-680
Robinson JC and Janson C (1987) Capuchins, squirrel monkeys and Atelines: social convergence with Old World primates. In: Smuts B, Cheney D, Seyfarth R, Wranghan R and Struhsaker T (eds) Primate Societies, pp 69-82. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Roosmalem MV (1985) Habitat preferences, diet, feeding strategies and social organization of the black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus paniscus) Linnaeus 1758). in Surinam. Acta Amazonica V. 15 (3/4). Manaus, 238 pp
Rudran R (1979) The demography and social mobility of a red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) population in Venezuela. In: Eisenberg JF (eds) Vertebrate Ecology in the Northern Neotropics, pp 107-126. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC
Sick H (1984) Ornitologia Brasileira. V.1 e 2. Editora da Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia
Stearman AM and Redford KH (1995) Game management and cultural survival: the Yuqui Ethnodevelopment Project in lowland Bolívia. Oryx. V. 29(1) 29-34
Symington MM (1987) Sex ratio and maternal rank in wild spider monkeys: when daughters disperse. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 20: 421-425
Townsend W (1996) Caça e pesca de los Siriono, p 130. Ed. by FUND-ECO. Bolivia
Vickers WT (1980) An analysis of amazonian hunting yields as a function of settlement age. In: Hames R and Kesinger KM (eds) Working Papers on South American Indians, 2: 7-29. Bennington, Vermont
Vickers WT (1984) The faunal components of lowland South American hunting kills. Interciencia 9: 366-376
Vickers WT (1991) Hunting yields and game composition over ten years in an Amazon Indian village territory. In: Robinson JG and Redford KH (eds) Neotropical Wildlife Use and Conservation, pp 53-81. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Yost JA and Kelley PM (1983) Shotguns, blowguns and spears: the analysis of technological efficiency. In: Hames R and Vickers WT (eds) Adaptative Responses of Native Amazonians, pp 189-224. Academic Press, New York
Wilkinson L (1990) SYSTAT. Systat Inc. Evanston, Illinois
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Souza-Mazurek, R.R., Pedrinho, T., Feliciano, X. et al. Subsistence hunting among the Waimiri Atroari Indians in central Amazonia, Brazil. Biodiversity and Conservation 9, 579–596 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008999201747
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008999201747